CORN BOOK 

for 

YOUNG FOLK 




WILLIAMS AND HILL 







Class _SBjli- 
Book I_M^ W(n 



Copviiglit N",-. - 



CORN BOOK FOR 
YOUNG FOLK 



BY 



CHARLES BURGESS WILLIAMS 
h 

DEAN OF AGRICULTURE, NORTH CAROLINA STATE 
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND ENGINEERING 



AND 



DANIEL HARVEY HILL 

EX-PRESIDENT NORTH CAROLINA STATE COLLEGE 
OF AGRICULTURE AND ENGINEERING 




GINN AND COMPANY 

BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON 
ATLANTA • DALLAS • COLUMBUS • SAN FRANCISCO 



COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY CHARLES BURGESS WILLIAMS 

AND DANIEL HARVEY HILL 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



220. 






TCfte gtftengum greg< 

GINN AND COMPANY • PRO- 
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A. 

MAR 17 1^21 



PREFACE 

If a young farmer can be led to acquire skill in 
growing one crop, he will unquestionably apply the 
principles that brought success in the one crop to 
all his other crops. The authors of this book, there- 
fore, think it best not to confuse the mind of a 
beginner by a discussion of all the standard crops, 
but rather to teach the general principles of crop 
growing through their application to a specific crop. 
The fundamental principles, like seed selection, the 
preparation of a seed bed, tillage, rotation of crops, 
and control of moisture, are practically the same for 
all crops. The unessential differences, like methods 
of planting or harvesting, are easily acquired. Corn 
was selected because it is almost universally grown 
in our country. 

One of the serious obstacles to the classroom 
study of a standard crop is that timely illustrative 
material cannot usually be secured. The teaching 
of the lesson cannot be made to correspond to the 
seeding, cultivation, or growth of the crop. The 
necessities of the school often require the class to 
be studying the root system of a plant when the 
snow is on the ground or its flowers when the plant 
itself is being harvested. To obviate this difficulty 



iv CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

the authors have centered much of the teaching 
around carefully selected photographs which with 
absolute timeliness illustrate almost as clearly as 
natural objects do. 

Hearty thanks for illustrations are accorded to 
the following: Bureau of Crop Estimates, Office of 
Corn Investigations, Office of Farm Management, 
and Office of Acclimatization and Adaptation of 
Crop Plants of the United States Department of 
Agriculture ; to the Kansas and North Carolina 
State Departments of Agriculture; to the North 
Carolina Hall of History; to the Experiment Sta- 
tions of Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, 
Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, 
Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, 
North Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia; to the 
Agricultural Gazelle of New Soulh Wales, Farm 
Business, and Ohio Farmer) to the American Seed- 
ing Machine Company, S. L. Allen and Company, 
Deere and Company, Dunham Company, Eureka 
Mower Company, Ginn and Company, International 
Harvester Company, Rock Island Railway, Roderick 
Lean Company, and S. W. Wilkinson and Brother. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Importance of Corn Crop . i 

II. The Beginning of the Corn Crop .... 9 

III. Climate and the Corn Crop 17 

IV. Races of Corn 31 

V. The Growing Plant 45 

VI. Markings of Good Seed Ears 61 

VII. Markings of Good Seed Ears (Continued) . . 78 

VIII. Place and Manner of selecting Seed ... 93 

IX. Storing the Seed 113 

X. How TO TEST Seed Corn 121 

XL Soil for Corn 140 

XII. First Steps in Cultivation 150 

XIII. The Second Step in Cultivation 163 

XIV. The Third Step in Cultivation — The Seed 

Bed 175 

XV. The Fourth Step in Cultivation — Planting 182 
XVI. The Fifth Step in Cultivation — Tending 

THE Crop 203 

XVII. Harvesting the Crop 215 

XVIII. Corn Silage 232 

XIX. Storing the Ears 239 

INDEX 243 



CORN BOOK FOR 
YOUNG FOLK 

CHAPTER I 

IMPORTANCE OF CORN CROP 

Just as the Rocky Mountains tower over our other 
ranges, so corn towers in value over our American 
crops. No other crop occupies so many acres; no 
other sells for so large a sum. This hardy plant 
ripens its grains in many climates and makes itself 
at home in many soils. Few^ crops are treated in 
such widely different ways. On the best American 
farms corn is usually given a rich, mellow seed bed. 
It is cultivated by excellent machines, gathered by 
a costly harvester, and ground by a well-equipped 
mill. In parts of Africa the seeds are still dropped 
into holes made by a sharpened stick. The plant 
is still cultivated by wooden plows, the ears carried 
to the storehouse in baskets, and the grain beaten 
into food with a stone. 

The amount of corn grown in the United States 
is enormous. To state that our country grows yearly 
over 3,000,000,000 bushels of corn gives no clear 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



idea of the greatness of the amount. Our minds 
cannot without aid form a picture of so many 

bushels. But suppose our 
nation should undertake 
to haul these bushels in 
two-horse wagons. If the 
drivers put 40 bushels in 
each wagon, the train 
of wagons would stretch 
out in an unbroken line 
for 426,000 miles. One 
hundred and fifty million 
horses w^ould be needed 
to draw^ the wagons. This 
is about seven and a half 
times as many horses and 
mules as we have in the 
United States. Suppose 
that each team could be 
given wings and could fly 
through the 240,000 miles 
between the earth and 
the moon. When the last 
wagon of the long train 
left the earth, the first 
wagon would be three 
fourths of the way back to the starting point. If 
these wagons were piled one on the other, the}^ 
would make a tower over 71,000 miles in height. 




Fig. I. Our Greatest Cereal 



IMPORTANCE OF CORN CROP 3 

Big as this crop is, however, modern thrift pro- 
vides ways to use not only these milHons of bushels 
of grain, but also every part of the stalk which 
bears the grain. Of course the greatest use of 
corn is to feed man and his domestic animals. 
Everyone is familiar with the many forms in which 
ground corn is served on our tables. Nearly every- 
one has occasion to see how greedily animals eat 
both grain and stalk. Many do not know, however, 
that corn is widely used in the arts. At present 
50,000,000 bushels of corn are manufactured into 
starch, sirups, and sugar every year. The United 
States sends annually to foreign countries 83,000,000 
bushels of corn. With the rapid growth in the use 
of starch and of corn sirups and sugars our country 
will probably soon consume as much corn in making 
these products as it sells to outside countries. 

A study of Fig. 20 will help us to remember some 
of the more recent uses of the corn kernel. The 
germ is found at the bottom of the kernel. The cen- 
tral portion of the kernel is called by the long 
name "endosperm." The outside of the kernel is, 
as you all know, called the hull. Corn oil and oil 
cake are made from the germ. Corn oil is used in 
making soap, soap powders, oilcloth, paints, varnishes, 
and a kind of rubber for overshoes, automobile tires, 
and other kindred products. When the oil is purified 
it is used in place of lard in bread, cakes, salads, and 
liniments. The oil cake is a stock food. 



4 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG POLK 

From the endosperm immense quantities of starch 
are made. Starch and two of its products — corn 
sirup and dextrin — are used in so many ways that 
even to name them would be tiresome. They enter 
into such foods as jelHes, sauces, puddings, pie filhngs, 
candies, mincemeats, preserves, and canned meats. 
They go into pastes, gums, mucilages, inks, black- 
ing, shoe polish, and hair tonics. They are useful in 
tanning leather, thi'ckening colors for calico, filling 
cloth, and in paper manufacture. They find a place 
in the making of mirrors, tires, chewing-tobacco, 
face powders, laundry supplies, and vinegars. Corn 
husks are made into hats, doormats, and a fine 
quality of bank-note paper; they also furnish pack- 
ing for horse collars, furniture, and coarse mat- 
tresses. Paper is made from the blades and stalks. 
The cobs go to market in the shape of corncob 
pipes. Even the pith is seized by careful fingers 
and made into box-board, guncotton, and a packing 
for armored ships that may be pierced by shells. 

To aid in seeing how important this widely used 
plant is to the American farmer, let us study a 
map prepared by the United States Department 
of Agriculture. 

What do you find stated in the right corner of 
the map to be the total yield of corn in the United 
States? Taking the population of our country as 
one hundred and ten million people, how many 
bushels would come to each man, woman, and child 



6 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

if the entire crop were divicled among them ? The 
average price of corn in America for the year in 
which this map was made was about ^1.28 a bushel. 
Take the figures showing the total yield and see 
what was the money value of the crop for that 
year. If you should divide this crop among the 




Fig. 3. Sherman Hall and his Yield of 107.33 Bushels 



twenty-five million school children in America, how 
much money would you receive ? What do you 
learn from the dark circles within the state bounds ? 
Which state has the largest circle ? How does this 
large state circle compare with the circle in your 
state? In 1915 the United States produced about 
three fourths of the world's supply of corn. Name 
from the map the ten states that grew most of this 



IMPORTANCE OF CORN CROP 7 

corn. Would anyone be right in calling these states 
the Corn Belt ? Can you find out whether some of 
these states are also in the Cotton Belt ? 

As you perhaps know, corn grows best in sec- 
tions that have comparatively warm, moist, fertile 
soils and that also have comparatively long growing- 
seasons. Will these facts or any one of them ex- 
plain why there are no large circles in the New 
England States? Is it for the same reasons that 
the map shows no large circles in the states west 
of Kansas and Nebraska? 

The average yield of corn in the United States is 
about twenty-six bushels to the acre. In many states 
the boys taught in the corn clubs have doubled this 
yield. Suppose we could by following the methods 
taught in this book double the total yield of the 
United States, how much would this add to the 
wealth of our country? How much would it add to 
the value of your corn crop? Would doubling the 
yield double the cost of growing the crop? In 
answering this question, think about these other 
questions: Would there be any added cost for rent? 
Would the labor cost any more? Would the ferti- 
lizer be more costly? Would it take more seed? 
Would more tools be needed? Would the crop be 
harder to harvest? Should you not, then, as a 
wise young grower be willing to study constantly 
and carefully these methods, and use them on your 
own farm? 



8 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. Name some articles in your home in which corn products 
are used. 

2. Remembering that the United States raises three fourths of 
all the corn grown in the world, draw a circle to show the size of 
the world crop. 

3. Soak a grain of corn in water, then split it and see whether 
you can separate the germ, the endosperm, and the hull. Note the 
difference in color between the germ and the endosperm. Does 
the oil in the germ cause this difference in color ? 

4. Allowing forty bushels to the wagon, how many wagons 
would it take to haul at one time the total crop of your state ? 
How many horses would be needed to draw these wagons ? H a 
horse is nine feet long, how long would the line of horses be ? 

5. Measure your home crib or any other crib and, allowing two 
and one-half cubic feet of corn in the ear to one bushel of shelled 
corn, see how many bushels the crib will hold. 



CHAPTER II 

THE BEGINNING OF THE CORN CROP 

Most of our greatest crops were grown in the older 
countries centuries before America was discovered. 
Wheat and oats seem to have had their first homes 
in central Asia. Sugar cane was brought from India. 
Cotton, although it is now so largely an American 
crop, was, like sugar cane, perhaps first grown in 
India. As Americans, however, we are proud that 
corn, our greatest crop, is a native of our own 
country. It was unknown to the Old World before 
Columbus made his remarkable trip. 

Perhaps some pupil is ready to ask: '' Is that not 
a mistake ? We read in the first book in the Bible, 
'And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea,' 
and of course the Bible was written iong before the 
time of Columbus." In early writings, however, the 
name " corn" is usually given to the greatest grain 
crop. When this word, then, is used in the Bible, 
wheat, not Indian corn, is meant. 

All the explorers of America were struck by the 
beautiful new grain plant found on our shores. Co- 
lumbus writes King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, 
" On one of the islands I found fields eighteen miles 
long growing in maize (corn)." Cartier was one of 

9 



lO 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



the first to sail into the cold waters of Canada. He 
says that he found a great town (now known as 
Montreal) situated in a cornfield. John Smith, hero 

of the colony 
of Jamestown, 
calls attention 
to the useful- 
ness of Indian 
corn. The Pu- 
ritans mention 
corn in New 
England and 
say that the 
Indians used 
fish as a ferti- 
lizer for corn. 
Early visitors 
to America ex- 
pected to find 
many wonders 
like fountains 
of youth and 
caves of jewels. 
Although they 
did not find the 
expected wonders, they told some things almost 
as surprising. One of these writers says of corn: 

Heer [here] of one graine of maize a reed doth spring. 
That thrice a year five hundred graines doth bring. 




Fig. 4. First Picture of Indian Corn 
(After John White) 



THE BEGINNING OF THE CORN CROP 



II 



In 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh attempted the first 
English settlement in America. This colony started 
cabin homes on Roanoke Island, North Carolina. 
Among the daring men who came with this col- 
ony were Thomas Hariot, a writer, and John White, 




Fig. 5. Indian cooking Corn. (After John White) 

an artist. Hariot wrote, in what now seems to us 
queer spelling, the first article ever written about 
Indian corn. He thus describes the new plant: 

Pagatour, a kind of graine so called by the Indians; 
the same in the West Indies is called Mayse ; Englishmen 
called it Guinney Wheate or Turkey Wheate according 
to the names of the countreys from whence the like hath 



12 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

beene brought. The graine is about the size of an ordinary 
EngHsh peaze, not much different in forme and shape, but 
of divers colors : some white, some red, some yellow, and 
some blew. All of them yeelde a very white sweete flower ; 
being used according to his kinde it maketh a very goode 
bread. . . . 

It is a grain of marvellous greate increase ; of a thousand, 
fifteene hundred and some two thousand fold. There are 
three sortes of which two are ripe in eleven or twelve weeks 
at the most ; sometimes in ten after they set, and are then 
in height of stalke about six or seven foote. The other sorte 
is ripe in fourteene, and is almost ten foote high ; of the 
stalks some beare four heads, some three, some one and 
two ; every head containeth five, sixe or seven hundred 
graines within a fewe more or less. Of these graines besides 
breade the Indians made victauU either by parching them or 
seetheing them whole until they be broken, or by boyling 
the floure with watter into a pappe. 

Our corn-club boys will even now find it hard to 
equal the yield of corn as given by Hariot. He says, 
"An English Acre doth there yield in croppe of 
corn, beanes and peaze at the least two hundred 
London bushells." 

Not only did this colony furnish the first histor- 
ical account of our great crop but also the earliest 
drawings of the natives. John White, the artist, drew 
many striking pictures to show how the Indians 
looked and how they lived. Among these drawings 
were two showing the ways in which the Indians 
cooked their corn. One of these Is copied In this 



THE BEGINNING OF THE CORN CROP 



13 



book; these drawings were the first Indian-corn 
pictures ever looked on by Enghsh eyes. 

If it had not been for corn, America could prob- 
ably not have been settled when it was. You re- 
member what a trying time the early settlers had. 
They were three thousand 
miles from supplies. Their 
ships took three months 
to cross the ocean. Some- 
times ships trying to reach 
them with food and clothes 
were driven back by storms. 
Often for weeks and months 
" they cast longing eyes to 
the east " to see whether 
help were coming. In this 
" starving time," as it was 
afterwards called, the poor 
sufferers lived largely on 
food made from corn. Their 
Indian neighbors taught 
the men how to grow the crop. The squaws 
showed the women how to crush the grain in 
wooden or stone mortars and how to make dif- 
ferent palatable dishes from the grains. In the 
absence of grass crops the animals of the settlers 
were largely supported by the corn plant. Three 
years after Jamestown was founded the colonists 
were cultivating thirty acres in corn. One of the 




Fig. 6. Indian Mortar for 
CRUSHING Corn 



14 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Pilgrim writers of New England tells how they 
fertilized their fields of corn with fish. He says: 

According to the manner of the Indians we manured our 
ground with herring, or rather shad, which we have in great 




Fig. 7. Indian Stone Mortar for crushing Corn 



abundance, and take with ease at our doors. You may see 
in one township a hundred acres together set with these 
fish, every acre taking a thousand of them, and an acre 
thus dressed will produce and yield as much corn as three 
acres without fish. 

As the number of people in America grew larger 
the growing of corn increased rapidly. At an early 



THE BEGINNING OF THE CORN CROP 



15 



date barrels of corn began to go in large quantities 
to the Old World. The countries around the Medi- 
terranean Sea were suited to the new grain crop, and 
it gradually spread over large sections of Europe, 




Fig. 8. Indians clearing Land by Fire for Corn 
(After John White) 

Asia, and Africa. The Portuguese were great sea- 
goers in that day, and they took corn into their 
colonies. 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. Try to find from your histories what crops, besides corn, 
America gave to the world, 

2. Our modern fertilizers are bought to supply three plant 
foods. Which of these does for our corn what the fish did for the 
Indian's corn ? Do we now use fish in any form as a fertilizer ? 



1 6 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

What does the fact that the Indians had to use fish show about 
their lands ? Does your land suffer from the same lack ? 

3. Study the picture (Fig. 8) to see how Indians cleared their 
lands of trees. Would this slow and troublesome way of getting 
rid of trees explain the need of fish ? 

4. The Indians used one thousand herring to the acre. If each 
herring weighed half a pound and contained 8 per cent of nitro- 
gen, how much nitrogen did the Indians use to the acre? How 
does this compare with what our farmers use ? 

5. From a comparison of the pictures in this chapter write a 
paragraph on " The Indian Way of growing and cooking Corn." 

6. What per cent of your own farm is planted in corn } 



CHAPTER III 

CLIMATE AND THE -CORN CROP 

Each plant has, of course, a home where it first 
grew. If a plant is valuable for its body, its fruit, its 
flower, or any other part, man will sooner or later 
take it into every country in which it will grow. 
The more valuable the plant, the wider it will be 
scattered. 

Students of the corn plant think that its first 
home was in warm table-lands high above the sea 
level, — perhaps as high as four or five thousand 
feet. There it proved so hardy and useful that men 
who are always hunting new foods learned its 
value and wanted to plant it wherever they settled. 
Hence, in the course of time, it became, as we have 
seen, one of the most widely grown of farm crops. 

In spite of its wide growth corn is still very sen- 
sitive to climatic conditions and refuses to yield its 
highly prized grains except in climates like that from 
which it came or to which it has adapted itself. 

Suppose you wanted to buy a farm on which to 
grow corn. Would it not be well to know in which 
climates to buy? First, is it necessary for corn to 
have the same height above the sea level as it had 
in its first home ? If corn will grow on lands lower 

17 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



or higher than 4000 feet, will this not prove that the 
same height is not needed? In India it fruits at a 

height of 7000 feet 
above the sea, in Peru 
at 8000 feet, and in 
Mexico at 10,000 feet. 
At the same time it 
makes a good crop 
in North Carolina at 
sea level. Would you, 
therefore, in choosing 
a farm have to think 
much about height ? 
Could you safely buy 
anywhere in Ohio, in 
Tennessee, in Kan- 
sas, or in Vermont? 

In selecting your 

farm you will, so far 

as height goes, have 

to keep in mind one 

other fact. In the 

Middle States corn 

that will ripen in one 

hundred days at a 

height of 1000 feet 

will need one hundred and thirty or one hundred 

and forty days at a height of 2000 feet. If you 

want to grow early corn, would you buy at a height 




Fig. 9. Corn grown in Highlands 
OF Montana 



CLIMATE AND THE CORN CROP 



19 



above 1000 feet? Do not forget that great height 
means cool nights, and such nights require a longer 
growing-season. The different kinds of corn take 
from ninety to about one hundred and eighty days 
to ripen. If you bought a highland farm, would 
you have to plant slow or rapid ripening kinds? 




Fig. 10. Iowa Field with Abundant Moisture 

Corn, Hke all bulky crops, must have abundant 
moisture. It takes from eighteen to twenty tons of 
water to make one bushel of corn. Fig. 10 shows 
an Iowa cornfield, and Fig. 1 1 a Georgia cornfield. 
Let us see how much moisture is needed to make 
good crops such as are shown in these pictures. The 
average rainfall during May, June, July, and August, 
in Iowa, through a period of eighteen years, was four 



20 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



and one-half inches. In -Georgia it was four and 
seven-tenths inches. Both of these fields received, 
whether or not the average amount fell on them, 
enough water to meet their needs. Now glance at 
Fig. 1 2. This picture shows the size of corn grown in 
a section of Arizona. The average rainfall where this 




Fig. II. Georgia Field where Moisture was Ample 



corn was grown was, for the same months, only about 
nine tenths of an inch. Do you wonder at its 
small size? In buying a corn farm would you not 
ask about the average rainfall during the growing- 
season ? Would you buy even a farm at a low price 
if the average monthly rain in summer was below 
four inches ? If you wanted to buy in Arizona, would 
you not buy close to an irrigation ditch ? 



CLIMATE AND THE CORN CROP 



21 



Even in the Corn Belt there is a close connection 
between the amount of rainfall and the yield of corn. 
In 1 89 1 the average rainfall in Iowa (one of the 
largest corn-growing states) for the four growing- 
months was 4.3 inches. The state averaged for that 
year thirty-eight bushels of corn to the acre. In 




Fig. 12. Corn in Dry Lands of Arizona 



1894, a very dry year, the average rainfall in the 
same state for the same months was only 1.7 inches, 
and the average yield to the acre was only fourteen 
bushels. For lack of the usual rain the yield fell off 
nearly three fourths. If this happened in a good 
corn state like Iowa, could you risk buying a farm 
in any section where the annual rainfall was low? 

Not only must corn have enough rain but it does 
best in climates where the rainfall during the period 



22 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



of its growth is fairly well distributed. An ideal 
season is one in which three or four inches of rain fall 
during both May and June, and a little more in July 
and August when the plants are tasseling and silking 

and the grains are 
filling. Let us take 
another illustration 
from Iowa. In 1900 
that state averaged 
forty-three bushels 
to an acre. This was 
the largest average 
yield in eighteen 
years. It will be in- 
teresting to note 
how the rain was 
distributed during 
the four growing- 
months of that year. 
In May, 3.3 inches 
fell;injune,4inches; 
in July, 6.2 inches; in 
August, 4.7 inches. 
Now compare this with the very next year's yield. 
In 1 90 1 the average for the same state was only 
twenty-six bushels. How was the rainfall distributed 
in this year? In May the rainfall was 2.3 inches; in 
June, 3.7 inches; in July, 2.3 inches; in August, 1.3 
inches. You will notice that in this year the rainfall 




Fig. .13. 



Navajo Corn in Dry Lands 
OF New Mexico 



CLIMATE AND THE CORN CROP 23 

for the two months most important in the growth 
of the crop was far smaller than in the other year. 

On the other hand, during tasseling and silking 
time, heavy rains (especially heavy, blowing rains), are 
very harmful to the crop. Such rains at this time 
not only wash the pollen away, so that it does not 
fall on the silks, but they prevent a proper growth 
of the roots. Therefore, in buying a corn farm 
should you not take time to study not only the 
average rainfall during the growing-season but also 
how this rainfall is distributed ? 

Perhaps some of you have read that corn is 
grown in South Africa and that the rainfall there 
in our summer months is comparatively small. You 
are, therefore, ready to ask how corn can be grown 
in that country. Turn to your geographies and you 
will find that the months for growing corn there are 
December, January, and February. In these months 
there is enough rain to grow the crop. 

Now will you not turn to the graphic map on 
page 5 and let us think over another climatic 
effect. Notice on the map that beginning in the 
south and going north the circles grow larger until 
a line north of Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois is 
reached. Then the dark circles again grow smaller. 
These circles, of course, show that the corn crop is 
largely raised in seven states ; namely, Illinois, Iowa, 
Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, and Ohio. 
The average summer temperature of these states is 



24 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



between seventy and eighty degrees ; they also have 
in summer comparatively few cloudy days. Would 
not these facts lead you to think that it would be 
well for you to buy your farm in a climate hav- 
ing about this same amount of heat and sunshine? 




Fig. 14. Thriving Corn in the South 



But suppose for family or other reasons you w^nt 
to buy a corn farm south or north of the Corn Belt. 
You will then wish an answer to these questions: 
Could the states lying south of the Corn Belt become 
great corn-growers ? Could the states lying north of 
this belt be made to yield heavy crops of corn ? 



26 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

In the South there is 'no reason why the corn 
yield on any well-tilled farm should not be large. 
In fact, the largest number of bushels produced 
so far on a single acre of an American farm was 
produced in South Carolina. Many heavy yields 
have been made in all the Southern states. Why, 
then, if such yields can be made below the Corn 
Belt, is not more corn grown in that section? 

There are two main reasons: First, in the Corn 
Belt few crops can be grown year in and year out 
that pay so handsomely as corn. This is not true in 
the South ; while corn grows admirably, other crops 
like cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, peanuts, soy beans, 
and sweet potatoes bring the farmer, as a rule, more 
money than corn does. Moreover, having a climate 
suited to so many crops, the Southern farmer natu- 
rally wishes to grow a variety of crops so that if one 
fails or is low in price another may supply his needs. 
Hence, instead of planting their lands mainly to 
corn as the farmers in the Corn Belt do, the planters 
in these Southern states grow many kinds of crops. 
The second reason is this : owing to long summers 
the humus in Southern soils is used up during the 
year more rapidly than is the humus in the soils of 
the Corn Belt. If a plentiful supply of humus is 
kept in Southern soils, you need not fear to buy a 
corn farm anywhere from Virginia to Texas. 

Now to answer the second question, namely, Could 
the states north of the Corn Belt be made to yield 



CLIMATE AND THE CORN CROP 



27 



heavy crops of corn regularly? In these states there 
is some of the richest land in the world. The rain- 
fall is plenteous and the height above the sea level 
is not too great. But, for all these climatic blessings, 
these states can never 
become huge grow- 
ers of corn. Why not? 
The growing-season 
is too short. 

You will under- 
stand this better if 
you compare the 
growing-season of a 
state in the Corn Belt 
with that of a state 
north of it. Let us 
count the growing- 
season as the time 
between the average 
date of planting and 
the average date of 
harvesting. In Illi- 
nois, the largest corn- 
producing state at present, there are one hundred 
and sixty-nine growing-days. In Texas, of the 
Southern Belt, there are two hundred and seven 
growing-days. Now selecting North Dakota or 
Maine, of the Northern Belt, we find that both of 
these states have only one hundred and seventeen 




Fig. 16. This Montana Corn had 
ONLY One Hundred and Seven- 
teen Growing-Days 



28 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



growing-days. In other words, the growing-seasons 
in North Dakota and in Maine are fifty-two days 
shorter than the growing-season of IlHnois and 
ninety days shorter than the ripening-time of Texas. 
Now the most productive kinds of field corn take 




Fig. 17. Field where Conditions were Favorable 



about one hundred days to ripen. You see, then, 
that in IlHnois the crop has sixty-nine days in which 
to make itself safe from early frost or cold, while in 
North Dakota or Maine it has only seventeen days. 
Hence, in all these colder states the corn crop is 
necessarily a more or less uncertain one. In the 
Corn Belt there are almost no late spring frosts 
or early fall frosts. 



CLIMATE AND THE CORN CROP 29 

Now you know how corn is injured by a very 
little cold. Indeed, the length of its growing-season 
is, as has been said, " measured by the last spring 
frost and the first one of autumn." One light frost 
in the fall at once stops its growth. No state, then, 
that does not have at least five months of freedom 
from frost can ever become a really great corn state. 
With your heart set on growing corn, would you 
dare select a farm in these colder states ? 

Taking all these climatic facts into consideration 
in your choice of a farm, are you not ready to say, 
" I will, other things being equal, most safely buy 
my farm in a section with these climatic features: 
first, where the height above the sea level is not too 
great ; second, where the rainfall averages at least 
four inches each month of the growing-season; 
third, where the rain in the growing-season is fairly 
distributed ; fourth, where there is an abundant 
amount of sunshine and not too many cloudy days ; 
fifth, where there are at least one hundred and fifty 
days of warmth and freedom from frost." 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. If a field of corn yielded one hundred bushels, how many 
tons of water did the plants need to make this yield ? 

2. Explain what climatic reasons keep the states on the Pacific 
slope from being great corn states. 

3. Why would a field of corn in Minnesota be expected to 
finish its growth in a shorter time than a field in Louisiana ? 



30 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

4. In case a friend told you that his prize acre of corn received 
only two inches of rain in July ^,nd one and one-half inches in 
August, would you think that his acre was likely to win the prize ? 

6. Explain why the Southern states are not heavier growers of 
corn. Do the same reasons keep the extreme Northern states 
from raising corn in large quantities? 



CHAPTER IV 



•9 99P^ 



RACES OF CORN 

The human family — aHke in so many ways — is 
divided into races; namely, white, yellow, red, brown, 
and black. This division is, of course, made from 
the color of the five races. So, in like manner, corn 
plants are divided 
into races, but the 
division is not on 
account of color. 

Let us learn to 
divide corn into 
races. To do this 
we shall have to 
study a kernel 
closely and learn 
some new names. 
The kernels of 
each race differ. In Fig. i8 we see the front and 
back of a kernel from each of the principal races. 
Do you notice the sink in the first kernel of each 
pair.? Is there such a sink in the back of the 
kernels? Did you ever think what this sink is for.? 
The young plant which is to grow from each of 
these grains is cuddled in this sink. 

31 



Fig. 18. Front and Back of Kernels 
OF Different Races 

Top row (left to right) : flint, soft, pop. Bot- 
tom row (left to right) : sweet, dent, pod 



32 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



/Endosperm-^, 




Tip Cap 



If you soak one of these kernels and then spht it 

with a sharp knife, you will see, if your eyes are 
sharp, what is shown in Fig. 19. In 
the middle of the kernel the young 
plant called the germ, chit, or em- 
bryo is shown. This germ, or embryo, 
reaches from A to B, Do you notice 
that the germ has a root (C) and a 
shoot, or stem (D)? Just below the 

Fig. 19. A Split g^rm you see the tip cap marked. 

Kernel This fastens the kernel to the cob 

and protects the lower end of the 

germ. Its wedge shape enables it to sink into the 

cob and hold the kernel in place. All around 

the germ, as shown in 

Fig. 20, are the starchy 

parts of the kernel. The 

starch on each side of 

the germ is harder and 

darker than the starch 

at the top of the kernel. 

Hence it is called the 

horny starch, while the 

whiter and softer starch 

at the top is known as 

crown starch. The young 

plant feeds on these 

starchy parts of the kernel until it is strong enough 

to draw its food from the soil. Both the young germ 



Germ Stan 



Gci-m Root 




Tip 
Starch 



Fig. 20. How Starch is dis- 
tributed IN THE Kernel 



RACES OF CORN 33 

and its starchy food are very tender. To protect 
them nature has sealed them in a thin wafer-like 
layer, which goes entirely around the kernel. This 
covering just inside the hull is called the horny 
gluten. All the starchy parts, both horny and 
white, which are shut in between the horny gluten 
and the germ, or embryo, are called by the long 
name " endosperm." You will need to remember 
this long word, which means just the part around 
the seed or germ of every race or variety of corn. 




^^ ^ 




A. Dent B. Flint C. Pop D. Sweet 

Fig. 21. Endosperm of Four Principal Races 

Now the endosperms of corns differ somewhat. 
Corns that have endosperms alike are put into one 
race, just as men who are colored alike are put into 
one race. Hence, to tell to what race a corn plant 
belongs we shall have to examine the endosperm 
of the kernel. According 'to the likeness of their 
endosperms corns are divided into the following 
races: dent, flint, pop, sweet, soft, and pod. 

Dent corn. By comparing the split kernels in Fig. 21 we 
shall see how the endosperms differ, and hence learn how the 
different races are classified. Find the hard or horny starch 
in kernel A. Is it in the sides of the embryo, or germ, 



34 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



or is it in the top, or crown, of the kernel ? What fills the 
entire top of the kernel ? One whole race of corn has its 




Courtesy of American Agricultural Chemical Company 

Fig. 22. Dent Corn showixg All Parts of Ear 



starchy parts, or its endosperm, arranged in this way. Do 
not forget that these starches, both horny and soft (or crown), 
are held between the harder back and front of the kernel 
just as butter is held between two hard crackers. Now as 



RACES OF CORN 



35 



the kernel hardens in ripening, it loses moisture and shrinks. 
The softer starchy parts between the flat front and back of 




Courtesy of American Agfricultural Chemical Company 

Fig. 23. Flint Corn showing All Parts of Ear 

the kernel shrink more than the harder front and back. 
This inside shrinking leaves a slight trough, or dent, at 



36 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

the top of the kernel between the front and the back. This 
dent occurs only at the top because nearly all the soft starch 
that shrinks most is at the top. All kinds of corns that 
act in this way are called dent corns. There are over three 
hundred and twenty kinds of dent corn. Among these you 
will find such favorites as Leaming's Yellow, Riley's Favorite, 
Boone County White, Iowa Silver Mine, Reid's Yellow 
Dent, Hildreth's Yellow, Cocke's Prolific, Mosby's Prolific, 
Horsetooth, Sanders's Improved, Hickory King, Southern 
Beauty, and Weekley's Improved. These kinds differ in 
the color of the grain, in the size of stalk and ear, in the 
number of ears to the stalk, and in other ways ; but they all 
have the endosperm alike. 

Flint corn. This race is next to dent corn in value. 
Examine the figure (p. 33) showing the endosperm of the 
flint kernel. Where do you find the horny starch } Does it 
not fill the top as well as the sides of the kernel 1 Does this 
not make the endosperm different from that of the dent } 
As the flint kernel ripens could it shrink at the top as the 
dent does } Since the horny starch is harder than the soft 
starch at the top of the dent, will this not cause the top of 
the kernel to be harder or more flintlike than the dent ? 
Does this fact show how this corn gets its name ? 

As is the case with dent corn, there are a great many dif- 
ferent kinds of flint corn. Among the kinds, or types, that 
are liked by farmers who grow flint corn are the following : 
King Philip, Longfellow, White Sanford, Smut Nose, Bloody 
Butcher, Gold Nugget, Squaw, Eight-Row, Twelve-Row, and 
Angel of Midnight. 

Siveet corn. Let us turn again to Fig. 21. In the drawing 
of the sweet-corn kernel look carefully for any hard or horny 
starch which would be shown, as in the dent and flint kernels, 



RACES OF CORN 



37 



by darkened areas. Does this not show that sweet corn has 
no hard or horny starch in its endosperm as the dents and 
flints have ? In all the sweet corns the starch of the endo- 
sperm has been largely changed to sugar ; hence the kernel 
shrinks evenly as it 
ripens. This gives 
to each kernel the 
wrinkled or shriveled 
look that marks this 
kind of corn. All 
sweet corn has a wax- 
like appearance. The 
generous amount of 
sugar makes it a 
favorite table corn. 
There are at least 
fifty different kinds 
or varieties of sweet 
corn. Among the 
most widely grown 
are the following : 
Country Gentleman, 
Stowell's Evergreen, 
White Cory, Marble- 
head, Golden Ban- 
tam, Early Landreth, Crosby's Early, Squantum, Stabler 
Early, Chicago Market, Black Mexican, and Ne Plus Ultra. 
Pop corn. This is the dwarf among the regular corns. It 
is small in stalk, kernel, germ, and ear. In looking at the 
pop-corn kernel in Fig. 21, do you see much soft starch in 
the endosperm } The dark shading tells you, does it not, that 
almost the whole endosperm is made up of flinty, or hard, 




Fig. 24. Sweet Corn 



38 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



starch ? In the hardness of the endosperm is found the 
reason why this is the only kind of corn that '' pops " when 
it is heated. The flint kernel is harder than the dent kernel 
but not so hard as the pop-corn kernel. If a flint kernel 
is heated it will not burst and turn inside out as the pop 

corn does ; it will only 
crack. What makes the 
difference .? 

The popping is per- 
haps due to the fact that 
water boils at 212° F. 
If a weight is put on 
the vessel holding the 
water, the water will not 
boil until a much higher 
degree of heat is reached. 
Should you take the pres- 
sure off the water after 
the heat has passed con- 
siderably beyond 212° F., 
the water will flash into 
steam and expand vio- 
lently. This is what hap- 
pens in popping corn. 
Moisture is shut up in the 
kernel and held in by the 
hard endosperm. When you heat the kernel in your popper 
its hard endosperm acts just like the weight on the water. 
By and by, as the heat increases, the moisture is changed 
into steam, violently bursts the kernel, and turns the starch 
inside out. It becomes about twenty times its natural size 
when it is popped. A pint and a half of kernels will make 
almost a half bushel of popped corn. 



m 


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p 


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i^BSft 


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ifp 




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|f|^ 


^Titifl 


^^^■Z^-^-'i 


B#a^^ 


■ -ifiSi^iWE- 




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l^ffi 




iffi 


i 1 


1^^;^ J% 


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tf|4|^S^ ' 


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Fig. 25. Pop Corn (Rice and Pearl) 



RACES OF CORN 



39 



Pop corn is divided into two kinds : namely, the pearl 
and the rice. Of these the rice is the more important. In 
the rice variety the ears taper rapidly to the tip and the 
kernels are sharp at the crown. 
The best varieties of the rice 
kind are White Rice, Snow- 
ball, Old Homestead, and 
Monarch. The pearl varieties 
do not taper so much, and the 
kernels are round at the top. 
Among the pearl kind, White 
Pearl, Queen Golden, and 
Eight-Rowed are favorites. 

There are two other 
races of corn, known as 
the pod and the soft. As 
these two kinds have little 
market value, however, 
we shall pass them by. 

From a study of the 
split kernels we have 
found how the races of 
corn are grouped. Let 
us now examine the en- 
tire kernels and also the 
ears, so that we may 

know the races by sight. In Fig. i8 you are given a 
front and a back view of a kernel from each race. 
See how keenly you can point out differences be- 
tween these kernels. Which race has the largest 




Fig. 26. Pod Corn 



40 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



kernel ? Which the smallest ? Which has the most 
wedge-shaped kernel ? Which the most wrinkled ? 
Which seems to have the largest germ ? Which is 
most nearly round? Which can stick in the cob 
best? Try to get kernels of each of the four most 




Fig. 27. Ears of Different Races grouped for Comparison 

useful races and examine them until you know one 
from the other. Notice also the color of each and 
the difference in hardness. 

In the same way compare the ears shown in 
Fig. 27. Examine the size and the shape of each 
ear. Which seems to have the most rows ? In which 
are the rows most nearly straight? Which has the 
least space between the rows? Which has the 
widest space? Which has its rows very crooked? 
Which is most wrinkled? Which would you think 



RACES OF CORN 4 1 

has the largest number of kernels ? If possible, get 
an ear of each race and do not lay the ears aside 
until you can easily state to which race each be- 
longs. Compare the difference in color. Note the 
smoothness of the flint and the wrinkled look of 
the sweet. Count the kernels in each row and 
find out how many kernels there are in each ear. 
Note whether the number of rows is always an 
even number. Shell the kernels and note the size 
of the cobs. Be sure to see whether any of the 
smaller ears have cobs that look very large for 
the size of the ear. 

In addition to knowing these four races by sight 
are there any other facts about them that you, as a 
corn-grower, ought to know ? Should you not know 
which yields the most heavily? Which will suit 
your soil and climate best? Which will fit in best 
with your farm needs and with your markets? 

Nine tenths of the corn grown in America is 
dent corn. This means, of course, that of all the 
barrels of corn hauled by our railroads or used in 
our homes nine barrels out of every ten are filled 
with dent corn; one barrel only of the ten is flint, 
sweet, or pop corn. For every barrel of pop corn 
grown in our country there are raised, roughly 
speaking, two barrels of sweet, seven barrels of 
flint, and ninety barrels of dent corn. Would this 
fact not lead you to think that dent is the most 
valuable corn for our American growers? 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



What makes dent corn such a favorite? Its stalk 
and leaf are larger th^n the stalk and leaves of 
other races, hence it makes more forage. Its ears 
are larger, hence it makes a large yield. As a result 
of tests for three years at the Pennsylvania Experi- 
ment Station it was found that the dent corn nearly 

doubled the yield 
of the flint corn. 
The dent husks 
do not cling to 
the ear so closely 
as the flint husks 
do, hence thedents 
are more easily 
husked. The ker- 
nels of the dent are 
softer than those 
of the flint corn, 
hence animals can 
more easily chew the grains. As a rule, however, 
dent corns need a longer growing-season than the 
other kinds do. Therefore they will not suit cold 
climates, where the growing-seasons are short. 

With all these qualities in its favor, why does not 
dent corn take the place of flint corn on our farms .^ 
It is because flint corn is finely suited to cool 
climates on account of its ripening earlier than dent 
corn. If you look out of a train window and see 
large fields of flint corn, you may be sure that you 




Fig. 28. Highly Bred Dent Ears 



RACES OF CORN 



43 



are in a cool climate. This race is very useful for 
forage, as it produces many suckers and its leaves 
and stalks are not as woody as those of the dent. 
The hardness of the flint kernels makes this kind of 
corn excellent for long sea voyages. It owes this ex- 
cellence to two qualities : first, after its kernels once 
dry out, they do not readily take up enough moisture 
to spoil ; second, the hardness keeps insects from 
injuring the kernels. 

There has been a remarkable increase from year 
to year in the amount of corn canned. This, added 
to a growing fondness for fresh sweet corn for our 
tables, has caused a great increase in the planting 
of sweet corns. Canners use this kind of corn almost 
entirely because its kernels are so rich in sugar. By 
carefully selecting suitable seed, sweet corn may be 
grown in almost any climate in which other corns 
will grow. As this kind of corn suckers freely, it is 
valuable for forage. 

Since the invention of movable machines for pop- 
ping the kernels of pop corn, and since merchants 
and street sellers have found a ready sale for the 
crisp popped kernels, there has been a widening 
area planted in pop corn. In almost every town 
the pop-corn wagon with its ovens for heating the 
kernels is as familiar a sight as fruit stands or cigar 
stores. Except for its use in this form pop corn has 
little market value. Hence it is not necessary to 
consider it in further detail. 



44 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. Draw in your own way the endosperms of each of the four 
leading races of corn. 

2. After soaking a grain of corn for some hours, split the 
kernel, and see if you cannot cut out the germ. Make a rough 
drawing of it as it looks to you. 

3. If a pop-corn kernel contained as much hard starch as a 
dent or flint kernel, would it pop ? Why will it not pop until after 
it has been gathered for some time ? 

4. If you were going to move from Texas to Maine, and had 
a splendid Texas seed corn, give reasons why you would not 
trouble to take this seed corn for planting in your new home. 

5. Name a few states in which you would expect only flint 
corn to be grown as a field corn. 

6. Explain why flint and pop corn have no dents in their 
kernels. 

7. Explain why sweet corn is wrinkled. 



CHAPTER V 

THE GROWING PLANT 

If you work hard or if you play hard, you need, 
in order to keep up your strength, food, water, air, 
and sunshine. The making of seeds and fruit is 
the work of the plant. In order that the plant 
may do its work it must have food, water, air, and 
sunshine. The water, air, and sunshine which the 
plant uses are just like the water, air, and sunshine 
which you use. So far, then, you and the plant are 
alike in your needs. The food of the plant, of 
course, is not like yours. How does its food differ 
from the bread and meat and vegetables on which 
you live ? The plant after its first few days of life 
lives (i) on water and the plant food which water 
holds and (2) on the carbon dioxide which it gets 
from the air. 

All animals, including mankind, live on plants, 
for the animals which man eats feed on plants. 
The more we can get plants to do for us the better 
we live. Is it not worth while to study the life of 
plants so that by proper feeding and tending we 
may get them to do their best for us ? We do not 
know the plant until we learn how it begins its life, 
how it feeds during its early and later days, how it 

45 



46 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



grows, and how it flowers and fruits. We must, in 
order to get this knowledge of the corn plant, learn 
what are the duties of the germ, the roots, the stem, 
the leaves, the tassel, and the silk. 

The germ, or embryo, from which the new corn 
shoot springs, is, as we saw in the last chapter, 

safely housed in the 
center of the kernel. 
There it is so thoroughly 
protected that it can 
live a long time. Around 
the germ lies the en- 
dosperm, which is also 
carefully sheltered by 
the horny gluten. So 
carefully has nature 
wrapped the germ and 
the endosperm within 
the hard walls of the 
kernel that the germ 
keeps its power to sprout 
for from two to four years. It is not safe, however, 
to plant kernels after they are two years old. 

When you fill the seed box on your corn-planter 
with dry, dead-looking seed kernels, you almost 
wonder whether there is any life in them. However, 
with a faith born of experience, you plant the kernels. 
If the ground is in good condition and the season 
favorable, those dry, dead-looking kernels send up 




Fig. 29. The Plant starts 
TO Grow 



48 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



living shoots within a few days. What moved the 
kernels to life ? What did they find in the soil that 
they did not find in the crib ? Did they not find the 
four things spoken of at the beginning of this les- 
son, — air, warmth from the sun, moisture, and food? 




Fig. 31. The Ditch takes away Excess Water 

You understand at once how the buried kernels 
got their air, moisture, and warmth, but do you 
know how they obtained their food ? As soon as 
those dry kernels felt the spring air, were wrapped 
in the spring warmth, and were soaked in spring 
moisture, their germs swelled into life. At their 
awakening the germs had no roots with which to 
feed. Hence, while they were forming roots, the 
young plants in the germs lived on their endosperms. 



THE GROWING PLANT 



49 



By the time the plants had used up the food of the 
endosperms their roots were ready, if the soil was 
in good condition, to support the young plant. 

APPLYING THE LESSON 

1. How can you help the soil to get air? Look at the field 
shown in Fig. 30. It has been deeply plowed, and then harrowed 
until the soil is open and finely grained. Cannot plenty of air 
press into such soil ? 

2. How can you 
help the soil to get 
warmth ? Will not the 
deep plowing, and the 
harrowing, and fining 
of the soil described 
above open the way 
for sunshine to flood 
into the soil ? 

3. How can you 
help the soil to get 

enough moisture and yet keep it from getting such an amount as to 
drown the young plant.? In Fig. 3 1 we see one way to help. Do not 
the ditches like the one shown in the figure carry away water that 
would keep the ground cold and soggy.? Note in Fig. 32 how hard 
the soil is packed. Would water run off such soil or would it sink 
in to be used at need by the young plant ? Do you see, then, that 
if you want the tiny young plant to get the air, moisture, warmth, 
and food that will enable it to do its best for you, you must give 
it a deeply tilled, harrowed, and fined seed bed in which to grow ? 

As soon as the germ awakens into life it sends 
a tiny root, known as the root sprout (Fig. 33), into 
the soil. This root sprout branches later and forms 




Fig. 32. A Packed Soil 



50 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



other roots. These are called the seed roots and 
are marked i in Fig. 34. They feed the young 
plant until the first green leaf, shown as the stem 
sprout in Fig. 35, appears above the ground. Then 
follow the roots shown at 2 in Fig. 34. These, since 
they grow from the stem and not from the kernel, 
are called the first roots. As soon as they start to 
grow, they seek the topsoil, where 
they find the warmth which en- 
ables them to gather food for the 
young plant. These roots feed the 
growing plant for some weeks. 
Next follow the circle roots. 



shown at 3 in Fig. 34. They are 



called circle roots because they 
grow out from one of the joints. 
Fig. 33. Root Sprout or nodes, of the stem, like spokes 
from the hub of a wheel. Their 
manner of growing is shown in the small drawing 
in the lower right corner of Fig. 34. They grow 
rapidly and are sometimes eight feet in length. 
They are the plant's main food-gatherers, and send 
out many smaller roots where warmth and moisture 
and food can be found. Then, at a higher joint of 
the stem (marked 4, in Fig. 34), the second circle 
roots begin their work; at a still higher joint 
(marked 5), the third circle roots spread out. 

From a joint just above the ground (marked 6), 
the brace roots, which keep the stalk steady as it 



THE GROWING PLANT 



51 



grows, shoot downward. Note that the roots start- 
ing at 3 grow straight out at first and later turn 
down, but that those starting at 4, 5, and 6 grow 
straight downward. Since they go deeper into the 
soil than the other roots they are often called 




Fig. 34. Root System 

the subsoil roots. When the corn plant is fruiting, 
these subsoil roots act like a pump to draw water 
from the soil into the plant. If they are cut the 
plant is, of course, much injured. 

As the plant grows, it forms a mass of roots, 
spreading for several feet in all directions. In 
Fig. 38 note how the roots spread from row to row 
and how near some of them are to the surface. 



52 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Soon after the roots of the corn plant begin to 
grow, fuzzy hairs (see Fig. 36) form near the tips of 
the roots. These hairs are very useful, for through 

them the plant gets 
its food from the soil. 
The larger roots do 
not take food from 
the soil ; they merely 
carry food from the 
root hairs to the plant. 
How do the hairs 
on the roots get the 
soil -food which the 
plant needs .f^ In this 
way: the water of 
the soil dissolves the 
plant food, just as 
water dissolves sugar, 
and holds this food in 
solution in the same 
way that water holds 
sugar. With its food 
in solution the water 
is taken up by the root hairs. Therefore, in Fig. 2^7^ 
the hairy roots at work in the soil are called the 
mine. The larger roots then carry the watery food 
to the stem, and the stem carries it up to the leaves. 
Hence these larger roots and the stem are called 
the transportation system. 




Fig. 35. Stem Sprout 



THE GROWINCx PLANT 



53 



In the leaves the plant food brought from the soil 
meets another form of food. This is the food which 
the leaves have drawn from the air. From the two 
is formed the food needed for the growth of every 
part of the corn plant. Hence the leaves are called 
the factory where 
food is made. As 
soon as the new 
foods are formed 
they are distrib- 
uted by the sap 
currents of the 
stalk to all parts 
of the stalk and 
to the roots. 

The food thus 
distributed is, of 
course, used for 
the growth of the 
plant, and espe- 
cially for the development of the full-grained ear. 
The ear, since it finally receives so much of the 
plant food, may be called the storehouse of the 
plant. Whenever you look at a cornstalk try to 
remember first, that the roots are to hold the plant 
in place and to take food from the soil; second, 
that the stem is to lift the leaves and flowers high 
enough to get air and sunlight and to transport 
food material from the roots to the leaves and 




Fig. 36. Root Hairs on Main Roots 



54 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



then to the entire plant ; third, that the leaves are 
like a factory in which the food from the roots 

and the food which 
the leaves draw 
from the air is 
made into nour- 
ishment for the 
entire plant. 



Tassel 




Factory where 
plant food is 
made into 
tissue 

Storehouse in 
which reserve 
plant food is 
found 

Transporta- 
tion system by 
which plant 
food is 
carried 



APPLYING THE 
LESSON 

1. Corn roots, as you 
see in Fig. 38, spread 
from row to row in from 
thirty to fifty days. You 
have just seen how nec- 
essary these roots are 
to the plant's growth. 
Can a corn-grower afford 
to injure these roots ? 
Would you, therefore, 
after the corn is six or 
eight inches high, culti- 
vate with a deep plow ? 
About how deep should 
you cultivate .'' Would 
it be safer to cultivate 
deeply when the plant 
is very young than after 
it is older ? See Fig. 39. 

2. Keeping in mind how the leaves help to feed the plant, do 
you think it a good practice to '' pull fodder " ? 



Mine from 
which all 
plant food 
except carbon 
is obtained 



Plant at Work 



THE GROWING PLANT 



55 




Fig. 38. Roots i:xtexd from Row to Row 



3. Roots in their 
growth will not cross 
wide spaces in the 
soil What injury is 
done the future plant 
if the grower puts its 
seed in cloddy or ill- 
broken soil ? How 
can you avoid this 
injury ? Could you 
wisely say, '' Spare 
the harrow and spoil 
the plant " ? 

4. As water is the only agent to dissolve plant food in the soil, 
can you allow any v^ater in a well-drained soil to be lost ? How 
will keeping a dry mulch on top of the soil save moisture? Will 
a good corn-grower 
follow the old saying, 
" Cultivate your corn 
four times and then 
quit " ? 

The cornstalk, 
made up of roots, 
stem, and leaves, 
the uses of which 
we have just seen, 
bears the flowers 
and fruit. You 
no doubt know 
that the tassel 
and silk are tlie Fig. 39. Feeding Roots fill the Soil 




56 ■ CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

flowers, and the ear is the fruit. Without the flowers 
there would be no fruit, or filled-out ear. How do the 
tassel and silk aid the ear in filling out its kernels ? 
Corn, unlike most field crops, has its flowers in 
two separate places. The tassel, which is one of the 
flowers, is, as you have seen all your lives, at the 




Fig. 40. Corn Silks leading to each Kernel 

top of the stalk. The silk, which is the other part 
of the flowers, is at the tip of the ears. What does 
the tassel do for the ear? It bears the small yellow 
grains called pollen. The tassel forms a great deal of 
pollen and the wind scatters it far and wide. After a 
wind or a gentle shower in tasseling time, you have 
no doubt seen the ground almost covered with pollen. 
It is said that for every grain of pollen needed by the 
silk six thousand grains are produced by the tassels. 



THE GROWING PLANT 



57 






The silk too is abundant. What does it do for 
the ear? A close look at Fig. 40 will help you to 
understand the duty of the silk and the pollen. On 
the cob you see rows of unformed ker- 
nels. They are just ready to grow, but 
they will not grow until both pollen 
and silk have done their part. From 
each tiny kernel you notice that a sin- 
gle thread of silk forms and makes its 
way to the tip of the ear. As there are 
many kernels, there are many threads 
dangling from the ear. These silks are 
nature's traps to catch the pollen from 
the tassel above and bear it to the wait- 
ing kernels. No kernel will grow until 
a grain of pollen drops on its silk and 
grows down the silk tube to that kernel. 
Just as soon as the kernels receive the 
pollen from their silks they push out- 
ward in vigorous growth. If a single 
kernel fails to get its grain of pollen, 
it will remain unformed, or barren, as 
it is called. In Fig. 41 you can see 
an ear in which some silks failed to 
carry their pollen, and the barren 
kernels resulted. If all the silks in an ear fail in 
their job you will have a cob without grain ; or if 
some fail and others do not, you will have partly 
filled ears, such as are shown in Fig. 42. 



Fig. 41. Silks 
failed to do 
THEIR Work 



5^ 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



The car grows out from the stalk on a short 
branch known as the shank. The ear is made up of 
husks to protect the tender kernels from weather 
and insects, of cob to hold the kernels, and of 

kernels to pro- 
duce new stalks. 
The shank grows 
out from a joint, 
or node, as it 
is called, on the 
main stem. If the 
shank grows too 
long, as w^e shall 
see in the discus- 
sion of the shank, 
the weight of the 
ear is likely to 
break the shank 
from the stalk. If 
the shank is too 
short the ear is 
held so straight 
that too much rain may enter and cause mold. 

In some ears the husks fit tightly around the ear. 
In others they inclose the ear loosely. Usually the 
husks entirely cover the ear, but sometimes they 
grow too short. In this case the tip of the ear is, of 
course, left uncovered, and birds and insects find it 
easy to rob the ear. 




Fig. 42. Ears showing Failure of Silks 
TO CARRY Pollen 



THE GROWING PLANT 59 

The stalk may have only one ear or It may have 
several. Pop corns usually bear more ears than 
either the flint or dent corns. A single pop-corn 
stalk has been known to produce as many as nine- 
teen ears. As a rule, flint corn is likely to have 
more ears than dent corn. The number of rows of 
kernels on the cob varies greatly. In the most com- 
mon kinds there are usually from eight to twenty 
rows. The number of rows is always an even number. 
If odd numbers do occasionally occur, they are the 
result of some injury to the tassel. Each breed of 
corn generally has a fixed number of rows. For 
example, Hickory King usually has eight rows; 
Horsetooth, twelve rows; but some, like Ladysmith, 
vary from fourteen to eighteen rows. Of course an 
increase in the number of rows will give an increase 
in the number of grains. You must not think, how- 
ever, that an increase in the number of grains will 
necessarily give a larger yield, for the grains may be 
smaller and hence weigh less. 

The number of grains to the ear varies greatly in 
different kinds of corn and varies with the season 
and the richness of the soil. 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. When will a kernel not sprout ? 

2. In what way does your food differ from the food of a corn 
plant ? 

3. How does lack of rain cut off a plant's rations ? 



6o CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

4. From the way in which a plant grows, explain how hail or 
army worms injure corn. 

5. If you were to tie a paper sack over an ear of corn when 
pollen was just forming, would grains grow on the cob ? Why not ? 

6. If you wanted to share a neighbor's improved kind of corn 
seed, could you do it by planting your corn near his and cutting 
all your corn tassels off before they formed pollen ? 

7. Could you expect a good ear of corn from a stalk growing 
alone in the middle of a forty-acre field ? 

8. It takes about sixty gallons of water to grow one pound of 
dry cornstalk. How much water will be needed for a yield of six 
thousand pounds of dry cornstalk, which is about the amount 
produced by an acre yielding forty bushels ? 



CHAPTER VI 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 

• Man, with all his boasted powers, is very help- 
less in controlling the yield of his crops. There are 
only three ways in which he can, 
by his own work, increase the 
yield of his plants. These are 
first, by selecting the best seed ; 
second, by cultivating in the 
wisest way, including proper drain- 
age of the soil ; third, by fertil- 
izing the soil so as to meet the 
needs of the soil and of the plant. 
These are his only weapons, for, 
of course, man s share in produc- 
tion is puny in comparison with 
what nature does in providing 
life, rainfall, and sunshine. Surely, 
then, man ought to learn to use 
his three weapons in a masterful 
way. The ear shown in Fig. 43 is 
a result of the wise use of these 
three weapons. At a corn show its perfect breeding 
won a prize of a thousand dollars. The giving of 

this prize shows people's interest in seed. 

61 




Fig. 43. A Thousand- 
Dollar Trophy Ear 



62 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Every young plant which grows from a seed 
Hves for a time on the food which is stored in the 
seed. Its start, its vigor, — in truth, all its power 
to grow, — must be drawn from the dying seed. 

Can the farmer, then, who 
depends for success on 
hardy, fruitful plants busy 
himself about anything more 
important than good seed ? 
Compare the two ears 
shown at A and B in Fig. 44. 
Do you notice any very great 
difference between them ? 
Are they not about the same 
size ? Do not their grains 
seem equally sound and 
equally well formed ? Are 
there not about as many 
grains on one as on the 
other? Yet, in spite of their 
seeming equality of value, 
the one marked A sold at 
auction for one hundred and 
fifty dollars; the one marked 
B can be bought on any corn market for a few cents. 
Can you give the reason why one so far surpasses 
the other in price ? 

If you have ever tried to buy a registered pig 
or a registered calf you will easily understand the 




Fig. 44. Ears Alike in 
Appearance but Differ- 
ent IN Value 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 63 

difference in the price of these two ears. You 
always find in buying an animal from a noted strain 
that you have to pay a higher price than when 
you buy an animal from an unknown breed. The 
famous breed has already proved its value for 
several generations. 

It is the same way with the two corn ears. For 
twenty corn generations the seed from which A 
was grown had been selected in the field as showing 
the best traits of a good ear. This high-priced ear 
had the best traits of these twenty generations. The 
buyer was sure that with good seasons and proper 
cultivation this ear would produce the kind of stalk, 
ear, and grain that he wanted. The ear marked B 
had no such history ; it was chosen from a pile of 
corn because it looked well. The corn grown from 
it might be good or it might be poor. There was 
no certainty that even under the best conditions its 
grains would produce such corn as a grower would 
be proud of. Is it, then, remarkable that a farmer 
who grows thousands of bushels of corn each year 
was willing to pay a handsome price for just such 
seed as he was sure would produce a paying crop? 

If you are planning to plant one acre, or a thou- 
sand acres, what then is the first thing for you to 
decide? Is it not that you will plant only the very 
best seed ? There are three ways in which to get 
seed. They are as follows : 

First, buy it from a distant grower or dealer. 



64 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Second, buy it from a neighbor. 
Third, raise it yourself. 

Which one of these ways is best? Let us see. 
Frequently at corn shows or at fairs a grower in 

search of good seed finds 
excellent ears of corn. 
Often in seed catalogues 
he sees cuts of splendid- 
looking ears similar to 
those shown in Fig. 45. 
He may think that if he 
plants seed from these 
ears he will get equally 
good ears. This is not 
necessarily true, however, 
for several reasons : 

First, as we have just 

seen, these showy ears 

may have no inherited 

good traits. They may or 

may not produce ears as 

good as themselves. 

Second, even if the ears shown are from the very 

best strains of corn which have been carefully bred 

for years, they may not produce well away from 

their own homes. 

Third, corn does best in soils like that on which it 
grew. These ears may have grown on soil very differ- 
ent from that in which the grower wants to plant. 




Fig. 45. Showy Ears that may 

NOT MEET YOUR NeEDS 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 65 

Fourth, the best seed corn is apt to lose in value 
if planted on land that is not about the same level 
above the sea as the land on which it has been bred. 
If these showy ears grew on land either much 
higher or much lower than the land on which they 
are to be planted, they would not be certain to 
make the best seed. 

Corn seed usually produces most heavily in the 
sections in which it was bred. Tests at several of 
the experiment stations show a difference of from 
two to thirty-one bushels an acre in favor of home- 
grown seed. Hence, if you decide to buy your seed 
corn, it will be best to buy from some honest, 
careful breeder in your own section or, better still, 
in your own county. 

A change from east to west or from west to east 
does not generally make so much difference in 
climate as does a change from north to south or 
from south to north. Therefore, in buying seed 
a grower will do well to buy from sellers east or 
west rather than very far north or much south 
of his farm. 

If you are going to buy seed corn you will do 
well to remember four things : 

First, buy the seed in the ear. You can then see the 
entire ear and tell whether it is the kind you want. 
You can examine grain, rows, butts, tips, and cob. 

Second, if your farm is in a climate in which frost 
comes early, you had better buy your seed from 



66 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



sellers north rather than very far south of your 
home ; such seed ripens in less time than Southern 
seeds which have a long growing-season. On the 
other hand, seed from a cold climate is not good 
for a Southern farm : the corn does not use all of 

the growing-season ; 
hence the yield will 
fall short. 

Third, good seed 
bought at a distance 
is likely to do better 
after the second or 
third year than it will 
the first year. Corn 
makes itself at home 
in a few years. 

Fourth, do not stake 
your whole crop on any one kind of new seed. 
Wait until the seed has proved itself good before 
you risk an entire crop. 

APPLYING THE LESSON 

1. If you live in Indiana would you be safe in buying seed com 
from Georgia ? If you live in Georgia would you do well to buy 
even the best seed from Illinois ? 

2. Why should you not buy seed from the mountain section of 
Tennessee if you want to plant on the prairies of Kansas ? 

3. At a corn show in Chicago a boy from North Carolina was 
struck by the fine ears of corn shown in Fig. 46. Could he safely 
stake his crop on seeds from these ears ? 




Fig. 46. Show Ears 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 67 

4. Two stalks of corn grew in the same row. They were each 
equally distant from neighboring stalks, were planted, cultivated, 
and fertilized, in the same way. Of these two, one produced more 
grain than the other. Why ? 

5. Suppose a bushel of corn will plant seven acres, and that 
one bushel of poor seed costs seventy cents and one bushel of fine 
seed costs two dollars and ten cents. If the better seed yields four 
bushels an acre more than the first, was it not cheaper to pay tv/o 
dollars and ten cents for the seed than to pay seventy cents .'' 

Instead of buying your seed, however, you will 
find it far more interesting and more profitable to 
raise your own seed. To do this you will have to 
learn to tell a good stalk and a good ear in order 
to select the best for seed. 

The Stalk 

You would not expect a weak, sickly man to be 
able to dig a deep ditch for you. Could you any 
more expect a weak, sickly stalk to bear a well- 
fruited ear of corn.f^ Must you not have a vigorous 
stalk if you wish a vigorous ear.^ Do not forget, 
however, that by a vigorous stalk we do not mean 
a tall stalk. Cornstalks vary in height from six to 
twenty feet ; sometimes they grow even taller. How- 
ever, plants above ten feet in height seem to spend 
their strength in making too much stalk instead of 
grain. On the other hand, a small, feeble stalk will 
not make a fine ear. Compare the size of the two 
ears in Figs. 47 and 48. The stalk shown in Fig. 47 



68 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 




Fig. 47. A Healthy Stalk 



has a good body; its 
blades are wide and 
abundant; it is thick 
at the bottom and ta- 
pers gradually toward 
the top ; if you could 
see its roots, you would 
find them thick, feed- 
ing widely, and brac- 
ing the stalk against 
winds. The stalk in 
Fig. 48 is, as you see, 
undersized; its leaves 
are scant and nar- 
row; hence its ear is 
small. Compare also 
the two ears in these 
figures. Each is what 
might be expected 
from its stalk. Shall 
you not, then, start 
your seed selection 
notebook records with 
the following entry ? 

Note i . My seed should 
come from a well-grown, vig- 
orous, abundantly bladed, well- 
shaped, well-rooted stalk, one 
that is not too tall nor yet 
too low. 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 



69 



Height of Ear on the Stalk 

As you see in Fig. 49, the different kinds of corn 
vary much not only in the height of their stalks but 
also in the height of the ears on the stalk. You 
would have to 
jump to gather 
the ear on the 
right stalk and 
stoop to pull the 
ear on the left 
stalk. If you are 
to gather your 
own corn, would 
you not prefer 
the ears to grow 
at a convenient 
height from the 
ground ? Look at 
the ideal hill of 
stalks with their 
ears at the same 
height from the 
ground in Fig. 50. 
If you prefer growing corn with that sort of stalk, you 
will have to plant seed that will make such stalks. 
If your corn ever shows a desire to grow its ears 
too high on the stalk, you can, by selecting seed 
ears from stalks having low ears, check this desire. 




Fig. 48. A Feeble Stalk 



70 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



On the other hand, if the ears begin to grow too 
low on the stalk, you can likewise, by selecting seed 
from ears higher from the ground, prevent this 

trouble. In Fig. 51 
the corn on the 
left has been bred 
from low-eared 
stalks. The line 
across the stalks 
shows the differ- 
ence in height of 
ears in the two 
fields. 

But comfort of 
harvesting is not 
the only thing to 
be thought of in 
the height of the 
ear. Do you not 
recall how easy it 
is for windstorms 
to blow over your 
corn in spite of its brace roots? Will a stalk not 
blow over more readily if the ear is high ? 

On the other hand, unless you want your corn 
to ripen early, the ears ought to be fairly well up 
from the ground. As a rule, ears that grow low on 
the stalk ripen early and the stalks are low. Corn, 
to make heavy, well-filled ears, needs as long a 




Fig. 49. Varying Height of Stalks 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 



71 



growing-season as the climate will permit. Hence 
the low-eared kinds, inasmuch as they do not use 
all the growing-season, do not make heavy yields. 
Ears that grow higher 
on the stalk take 
more time to mature. 
Hence, under favor- 
able conditions, they 
can produce heavy 
ears. The stalk on 
the right in Fig. 49 
took one hundred 
and thirty days to 
ripen its ear. The 
one on the left took 
only one hundred and 
five days. Of course 
you do not want stalks 
that are very tall, for 
such stalks grow in 
height at the ex- 
pense of the ear. 

However, some students of this book may live in 
sections in which, on account of early frosts, corn 
barely has time to ripen. If so, those students have 
probably seen this happen : of two fields planted at 
the same time and tilled in the same way, one 
ripened its grain before frost ; the other did not, and 
was ruined. Why was this? The next time any of 




Fig. 50. Ears at a Convenient 
Height 



72 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



you see such a difference, notice the position of 
the ears on the stalk. The field that escaped had 
stalks with low ears. Hence, these stalks ripened 
faster than those which had their ears high. In 
such a climate would you not with this fact in 
mind select seed from a low-eared kind of corn? 




Fig. 51. Changing Height of Ears by Breeding 



In Fig. 49 you saw at what different heights ears 
grow on the stalks in some fields. Such fields are 
not so surely pollinated as fields in which the ears 
grow at an even height. Keep three facts in mind 
and you will readily see why. 

First, in dry climates corn pollen lives about 
three days; in fairly moist climates, from seven to 
eight days. 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 



7Z 



Second, the pollen is scattered by the wind. A tassel 
does not necessarily furnish' its own silk with pollen. 

Third, ears low on the stalk ripen earlier than 
those higher. 

Now in a field such as is shown in Fig. 49 some 
stalks will have tassels and silk ready for pollination 




Fig. 52. Ears Ready for Tollex about the Same Time 

sooner than others. Hence pollination must go on 
from day to day from a comparatively small number 
of stalks. In a field similar to that shown in Fig. 52 
all the ears are ready for their pollen at nearly the 
same time, and the pollen is formed about the same 
time. Hence the pollen falls in a perfect shower 
and is likely to reach all the silks. 



74 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

We are now ready, are we not, for the second 
entry in our books? It will be: 

Note 2. I will select my seed from ears that are borne at a uniform 
height on the stalk. 

The Shank of the Ear 

The ear grows from a branch of the stalk, known 
as the shank. Examine the way in which the ears 
in Fig. 53 grow from their stalks. The ears on the 
left are borne on short shanks which hold them up 
almost ^straight. The ears on the right have longer 
shanks and hang downward. Unless the left ear is 
entirely covered at the tip by the husk, could not 
rain easily enter the ear? What effect would this 
produce ? Could rain so readily make its way into 
the ear on the right ? Would this ear, then, not be 
a safer one than the other to select for seed ? The 
shanks of the center ears are entirely too long. In 
case of high winds these ears would likely be torn 
from the stalk and rot on the ground. At the 
Illinois Experiment Station, stalks with straight-up 
ears and stalks with hanging ears were bred. It was 
found by actual count that the hanging ears con- 
tained only 2 per cent of moldy or rotted ears, while 
the straight-up ears had 5 per cent of such ears. 

Are we not ready for a third entry in our note- 
book ? 

Note 3. I will select my seed from ears that hang down from the 
shank. 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 



75 



Barren Stalks 

Stalks on which no ears are borne are called 
barren stalks. Such stalks produce tassels and shed 
their pollen like other stalks, but make no ears. 




A B c 

Fig. 53. Bad and Good Shanks 
A, too short ; B, too long ; C, good 



.or only nubbins. Sometimes the barren stalks grow 
to full size and look perfectly healthy. However, 
most of these stalks show a lack of vigor. Some 
corn-growers think that as many as one ear in every 
seven is barren. Would this mean that one acre in 
every seven produces no corn? 



76 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

If one of these barren, stalks grows beside two 
productive stalks, would it injure these good stalks? 
Would it not steal moisture and plant food from 
them ? Would it not act just as a weed acts ? Would 
it be well for the pollen from such a stalk to fall on 
the silk of productive stalks ? 

Can barren stalks be prevented? If we think of 
the reasons for such stalks, we shall see some ways 
to lessen greatly their number. Among these 
reasons are the following: (i) injuries from insects 
and disease — these sap the vigor of the plant and 
leave it without strength to produce an ear; (2) un- 
favorable soil and season; (3) too thick planting — 
the stalks when too crowded cannot get sufficient 
food ; (4) poor tillage, and (5) poorly bred seed. 
When growers till and fertilize their corn well, poor 
seed is the most frequent cause of barren stalks. 
Then make this entry in your notebook : 

Note 4. To keep down the number of barren stalks, I must plant 
pure-bred seed, and cultivate and fertilize my corn with all the skill I can. 

APPLYING THE LESSON 

A member of the Boys' Clubs bought a piece of poor land in 
South Carolina, He was afraid of barren stalks and made up his 
mind not to have any in his field.. The first spring he planted his 
stalks at a good distance from one another in the row and put the 
rows wide apart. Was this right ? He picked for seed some large 
ears from his crib. Was this right ? Lie had a dry season and 
tilled his corn as often as he possibly could. Was this right ? 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 



11 



On most of his land he planted cowpeas at the last tillage of 
the com. Was this right? In the fall he followed his peas by 
clover. Was this right .? In the second spring he planted corn after 
the clover, and this time he seeded his land more thickly. Was 
this right ? He planted this year some South Carolina seed that 
had taken the first prize at the Columbia, South Carolina, Corn 
Show. Was this right ? 

On the part of his land not sown in peas and clover, he scattered 
stable manure rather thickly. Was this right ? On this land too 
he planted more closely than the year before. Was this right? 
Here he tried some prize seed from Mississippi. Was this right ? 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. Draw a corn kernel and show the position of the embryo. 
Show also in the drawing where the food for the embryo is stored. 

2. His neighbors laughed at a young farmer for paying forty 
dollars for an ear of corn for his seed patch. Explain why you 
think he may not have been wasteful of his money. 

3. A child can become better than its parents. Can an ear of 
corn be better than its parents ? Good parents in a good home 
often have worthless children. Can good corn parents in a fertile, 
well-cultivated field produce worthless ears ? 

4. A bright boy who wanted to grow corn inherited a farm on 
which corn had never been grown. A neighbor offered to sell him 
some tried corn at $4 a bushel. A seedsman six hundred miles 
north of his farm offered some showy ears at $2 a bushel. Another 
seedsman three hundred miles south of his farm sent him a cata- 
logue showing handsome ears at $2.50 a bushel. Which would he 
be wise to buy ? 

5. A farmer after riding on horseback through his field boasted 
that his corn was so fine and tall that he could not touch the tassels 
with his riding whip. Was this an intelligent boast? Give three 
reasons for your answer. 



CHAPTER VII 

MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS (Continued) 
Number of Ears to the Stalk 

Your seed should be chosen to give you the great- 
est number of pounds of dry shelled corn to the 
stalk. Of the three stalks represented in Eig. 54 
one stalk bears only one ear, one bears two ears, 
and one three ears. Shall you select seed from a 
stalk that yields one, two, or three ears? This is a 
vexed question with growers. Some stoutly insist 
that one large well-filled ear will produce the greatest 
amount of corn. They point out the fact that, as a 
rule, the size of the ear decreases as the number of 
ears increases. Others urge that a two-eared kind is 
the largest producer. These contend that you can 
get a greater weight of corn from two medium-sized 
ears than from one large ear. Stalks bearing more 
than one ear are called prolific stalks, and seed from 
such stalks is called prolific seed. 

Is there any way to settle this difference of opin- 
ion except by actual trial in the field? The North 
Carolina Experiment Station made exactly this trial 
for five years. The one-eared kinds and the prolific 
kinds were planted in alternate rows in the same 

78 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 



79 



field. This, of course, gave each the same kind of 
soil. The seasons, of course, were exactly alike for 
each kind. Each kind was planted at the same time, 
fertilized, and tilled in exactly the same way. At 
the end of the season the returns from each were 
carefully weighed. The prolific varieties yielded an 
average of thirty-seven 
bushels to an acre. The 
one-eared varieties aver- 
aged only twenty-nine 
bushels — a difference of 
eight bushels in favor of 
the prolific kind. 

The Alabama Experi- 
ment Station made the 
same tests for four years. 
This station found that 
prolific varieties yielded 
thirty-three bushels to the 
acre while the one-eared 
varieties yielded only 

twenty-seven bushels. The Tennessee Station after 
careful tests declared that the prolific kinds yielded 
more than the one-eared kinds. 

However, will it be fair to conclude that, because 
the prolific kinds yielded most in these three 
Southern states these kinds will be the heaviest 
yielders all over our country.? We must not forget 
what a difference climate makes in a crop. The 




Fig. 54. Stalks with One, Two, 
AND Thrf:e Ears 



8o CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

prolific kinds of corn take longer to ripen their 
ears than do the one-eared varieties. In states like 
Kansas, Iowa, and Illinois, where the growing-season 
is much shorter than in the South, growers want a 
corn that will be certain to ripen before cold w^eather 
comes. Would the prolific kinds then be as good 
for these colder states as they would for the warmer 
states ? If you live in a cold state, would you there- 
fore plant a prolific variety? 

Moreover, on poor soils good one-eared varieties 
are generally the best producers. Hence, if you are 
so unfortunate as to have to plant your corn on 
poor land, should you try to grow prolific corn ? 
Would not seed from a choice one-eared variety be 
safer for you ? 

As another note in regard to seed selection, let 
us write : 

Note 5. If I live in a warm climate and have rich land, I will 
select a prolific variety of dent corn for seed, but if I live in a cold 
climate, I will choose a good one-eared variety for seed. 

Which of Twin Ears to Select 

If you are using a prolific seed, you may be puz- 
zled which of the two ears borne on a stalk to select 
for seed. Examine the stalks and the ears in the 
field. From the stalks bearing the tw^o best ears 
select the better ear of the two. This will usually 
be the top ear. But if both ears are good, there is 
no reason why you should not use both for seed. 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 8 1 

The Ear and its Qualities 

Corn Is grown largely for its ears — they are the 
crown of a years work. If the ears are not full 




Fig. S5- Well-Shaped and Poorly-Shapeu Ears 



fruited, the labor of the grower is not properly 
rewarded. If we are seeking to grow seed that will 
make fruitful ears, we must know thoroughly all 
the marks of a fine ear. 

Contrast the ears in Fig. 55. You see at a glance, 
as far as shape goes, what is wanted in a seed ear 



82 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



and what is not desired. Ears No. i and No. 2 have 
all the outward marks of excellent seed ears. Ear 
No. 3 begins to taper too much. Ear No. 4 is 
wretched. In spite of its attractive shape is it pos- 
sible that ear No. i might not be a good seed ear? 
Explain your answer fully. Let 
us see what advantages in shape 
ears No. i and No. 2 have over 
ears No. 3 and No. 4. 

Ears No. i and No. 2 are cylin- 
drical, that is, they taper very little 
from end to end, and this is the 
shape desired by most growers, for 
it is the only shape in which the 
same number of rows can grow 
from end to end of the ear. In a 
tapering ear like No. 3 and No. 4 
there must be either some short 
rows, as shown in Fig. 56, or the 
kernels at the large end must be 
larger than those at the small end^ 
or have more space between them. Follow the 
rows of kernels in ear No. i. Do they not run 
straight from bottom to top.^^ Is this true of ear 
No. 2 ? Which has the larger number of kernels ? 
In which are the kernels most nearly of the same 
size } Will kernels of different sizes drop well from 
your corn planter? Which has the wider spaces, or 
furrows, between the rows ? 




Fig. s^' Here the 

Kernel Rows are 

partly lost 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 



83 



Length and Girth of Ear 

As climates and soils in the corn-growing area of 
the United States vary so widely and affect the 
crop so markedly, it is impossible to fix a standard 
of length for an ear. Where the 
growing-season is long and the 
soil fertile, large ears are usually 
the best producers among the 
one-eared varieties. But very 
long and narrow ears are to be 
avoided, for in such ears the 
kernels are generally shallow. In 
areas that have a short growing- 
season smaller ears should be 
selected. Of the one-eared vari- 
eties ears ranging from nine to 
eleven inches in length are per- 
haps best for seed. Of prolific 
kinds the best ears range from 
eight to nine inches in length. 

In addition to the length, the 
girth, or circumference, of the 
ear is always important. The ear 
should have circumference enough to hold a large 
number of rows of kernels. Compare the circum- 
ference of ears No. i and No. 2 in Fig. 57. Will 
not an ear like No. 2 have more room to hold its 
rows of kernels than ears like No. i ? Ears of the 




Fig. s7- Length and 
Girth of Ears 



84 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



one-eared varieties vary from twelve to twenty-four 
in the number of rows; the prolific varieties from 
eight to sixteen. It will be prudent not to select 




Fig. 58. Butts and Tips 

seed from any one-eared variety that has fewer than 
sixteen rows or from any prolific variety that has 
fewer than twelve rows. 



Butts and Tips 

The end of the ear next to the stalk is called the 
butt; the opposite end is known as the tip. There 
should be no wasted space on the cob. Every part 
of the cob should be covered with kernels. The 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 85 

yield of course will be greatest if both butts and 
tips are well filled out. A well-filled butt is more to 
be sought than a well-capped tip. Do not, however, 
select an ear solely because its butt and tip are 
nearly perfect. The size of an ear and its suitability 
to soil and climate are too important to give way 
to a search after perfect butts and tips. Fig. 58 
presents a series of butts and tips. Give reasons for 
saying that No. i is a good butt. Why is No. 3 a poor 
butt? Does No. i appear to have a large or a small 
cob ? Does No. 3 appear to have a very large cob ? 
Is there much wasted space in No. i ? in No. 3 ? 
In the tips in the bottom row do you see any wasted 
space in No. i ? Is there such wasted space in 
Nos. 2 and 3 ? Would these six ears not yield more 
if all the ears had butts and tips filled as well as 
Nos. I and 2 have ? 

Space between Rows 

The spaces, or furrows, between the rows of ker- 
nels should not be wide, but yet wide enough, in 
sections with a short growing-season, to allow the 
ear to dry thoroughly before frost. Ears with wide 
furrows are apt to have rounded and not deep ker- 
nels. Such rounded kernels do not fill solidly the 
space on the cob. The ear on the left in Fig. 59 
has straight and small furrows, yet the furrows are 
wide enough for air to enter and cause it to dry. In 



86 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

the middle ear the furrows are nearly straight but 
rather wide. In the ear 'on the right the furrows 
are not only far too wide but very much out of line. 
Which would you be sure to select for a seed ear ? 



^^H^I)^H 


^Hr7 ^ 


■■■ 




il 






Hi 


1 




^ppi 


1 


,^,^^^pl • ^H 




■X*>-'tr. 


^KV: t . • -- 


' ^"^^^^^^^ -^4. *'' ^^^H 


^^^^^^^» 


Kt 




R^g t^'- ■ 


^^^^^^]v 


-4."' 




^^^^^^^^'Vr 


l:^^ 


^■c^' „.^ • 


'.;^^^f''-H 




¥ 


kj 






m 




::,^K|4 , ■ 




jg 


j^^^^^^H 



Fig. 59. Ears showing Spaces between Rows 

Color of Ear and Cob 

Each variety of corn has a natural or regular 
color. All carefully bred varieties are expected to 
be uniform in color. For example, white dent corns 
should yield white kernels, and yellow dents yellow 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 



&7 



kernels. Any mixing of colors shows that an ear or its 
parent ears received some pollen from stalks of an- 
other variety. Of course, no ear that has been so 
pollinated should be used for seed. In Fig. 60 there 
is shown an ear in which the color 
is a result of stray pollen. Even if 
such an ear has an almost perfect 
shape and has well-shaped kernels, 
good spacing between the rows, 
and excellent butts and tips, should 
you use it for a seed ear? The 
cobs, too, should have a regular 
color. With some few exceptions, 
such as the Calhoun Red Cob, 
the white and the yellow varieties 
should have white cobs and red 
varieties should produce red cobs. 
As a rule the white varieties have 
proved heavier yielders than the 
colored varieties. Yet, in spite of 
this fact, some yellow varieties out- 
yield many white kinds. The yield is not governed 
by the color, but will, of course, depend on the 
size of the ear, time of ripening, suitability to soil 
and climate, kind of kernels, a proper filling out of 
the kernels, the amount of grain to the cob, the 
amount of fertilizer used, and the excellence of the 
cultivation. 




Fig. 60. Varying 
Color op^ Kernels 



S8 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Size qf Cob 

The cob is merely a frame on which the kernels 
are fastened. The larger the cob, if all other things 
are equal, the more kernels can be fastened on it. 
However, there are objections to a very large cob; 
its grains are apt to be shallow and it is slow in 

drying. If the cob 

is so large that it 

holds moisture too 

long, its kernels 

may be injured by 

mold or by early 

frost. On the other 

hand, cobs that are 

very small cannot 

furnish framework 

enough for a large 

number of kernels. Hence a cob which is neither 

too large nor too small makes the best frame for 

the kernels. 

In Fig. 6 1 compare the four cobs with their ker- 
nels. Select the cob that makes the best frame for 
its kernels. Which cob is too large? Which too 
small ? Count the number of kernels around each 
cob. The biggest cob has the largest number of 
kernels around it. Would this prove that the total 
number of kernels on this cob would weigh more 
than the total number of those on the ear to the 



■1 


♦ • *" \^ 


m 


W '^ 


L%/2 


^B 


^'V>-^-j 




M 


Bg<^ 


1/ > ^m 





Fig. 6i. Cobs of Different Sizes 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 89 

right? The ear on the left has eighteen kernels 
around the cob. The one at the bottom has only 
eight kernels girdling it. Would this prove that 
the first ear would yield twice as much as the 
second ear? Which cob would be slowest in drying? 
Which ought to dry most quickly ? 

APPLYING THE LESSON 

1. A banker offers as a prize for the highest yield from one 
acre a scholarship in the State Agricultural College. If you entered 
for this prize, would you select for seed a one-eared or a two-eared 
variety ? 

2. Describe the shape of the ears that you would want for seed. 

We now seem ready for the next note in our seed- 
selection book, as follows : 

Note 6. From the best-bred ears on my own farm or in my own 
community, I will pick out for seed such as are firm, heavy, cylindrical, 
medium in size rather than very long or short, I will also take care 
that my seed ears have a good girth or circumference, with their butts 
and tips well filled, with straight and narrow furrows, with a cob not too 
large nor yet too small, with a strong short shank, and with uniform, 
well-shaped kernels. 

The Kernel 

Corn is, of course, grown largely for the kernels. 
No matter how much pleasure we may take in the 
grace of the stalk or in the richness of the harvest 
colors, it is, after all, around the tiny kernels with 
their food for man and beast and with their power 
to furnish seed for the next crop that our chief 



tftf ft ftfi 
II II ••II if 



Fig. 62. Varying Shapes of Dent Kernels 



f • • f 

f I I f 

ft If 

f t f f 



Fig. 63. Compare these Kernels 



MARKINGS OF GOOD SEED EARS 



91 




Fig. 64. This Shape Best 

large, deep, close-fitting ke 
Wedge-shaped kernels, not 
up the space most 
snugly and with 
least loss. Not 
only should the 
kernels be wedge- 
shaped but they 
should be uniform 
in size so that the 
corn-planter may 
drop them evenly 
in planting. As 
you will see by 



interest centers. As our 
study goes on, we shall 
find that each variety of 
corn, as is shown in 
Fig. 62, has certain pecu- 
liarities in the shape of 
its kernels, but, even with 
these in mind, there are 
some qualities which all 
kernels should have. 

Both the size and the 
shape of the kernels are 
important. As the entire 
space around the cob 
should be used, fairly 
rnels are to be sought, 
too pointed, seem to fill 




Fig. 6^. Kernels that will Grow 



92 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

measuring the kernel in Fig. 64, the length of the 
kernel should be a little over one and one-half times 
the width at the widest part. The kernels should be 
about one half of the depth of the cob. Their thick- 
ness should be nearly the same from end to end. 

The ripe kernel should have, as in Fig. 65, a clean, 
strong, full tip. It should have the same fresh and 
glossy color in front and back. It should not be dis- 
colored, blistered, wrinkled, roughened, or cracked. 
The germ should be large, smooth, bright, and 
rather horny. The germ, w^hen cut open, should be 
fresh and oily in looks. Dull, dead-looking kernels 
have feeble life and are generally from weak stalks. 

In Fig. 63 four rows of kernels are grouped for 
comparison. What objections can you give to the 
shape of the kernels in the top row.f^ What to those 
in the second row ? Are the grains in the third and 
fourth rows wedge-shaped, deep, and uniform ? Are 
they near enough in size to be dropped evenly from 
the planter ? Would these be good kernels for seed ? 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. Get your teacher to arrange a debate for some evening. 
Let the question for debate be : " Resolved that for this community 
a one-eared variety of corn is better than a prolific variety." Invite 
the farmers to join the debaters on each side. 

2. Let the teacher provide a corn show for December, invite 
each pupil to bring the best home-grown ear, and have three 
pupils act as judges and give publicly the reasons for the award. 
Be sure to have each pupil bring at least one ear. 



CHAPTER VIII 

PLACE AND MANNER OF SELECTING SEED 

Now, having become familiar with the outward 
marks of desirable seed ears, we must decide how, 
when, and where we can secure such ears. As 
already seen, there are three ways in which to 
secure seed : 

First, we may buy our seed from some grower 
who does not live near us. 

Second, wc may buy from some one in our own 
neighborhood. 

Third, we may, after the first year, raise our 
own seed. 

We have also thought over some of the objections 
to the first plan. However, as our success in grow- 
ing corn is so dependent on planting the very best 
seed, we cannot spend too much time in learning 
how to make a wise selection of seed. 

We see, in Fig. 66, an ear of a one-eared variety 
which is almost perfect in shape. In looks it is a 
model, for it has all the outward marks that are most 
highly prized. Its kernels are wedge-shaped, deep, 
and closely packed. Its furrows are close and straight. 
Both ends are well covered. Its cob is about the 
right size, and the entire ear well shaped. Maybe, 

93 



94 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



after you examine it, you are ready to say, "Such an 
ear is good enough for me." But do not be too hasty. 
Why may such a showy ear be unfit for seed ? 

First, can you from looks be sure 
that this ear would produce just 
such an ear as itself? It might do 
so, but on the other hand have we 
any such certainty, as we would 
have if we knew it came from a 
family of fine bearers? May it not 
be that this ear grew on a stalk that 
was highly favored by some acci- 
dent? Perhaps the stalk that bore 
it stood nearly alone in the field 
and received an undue share of 
food. Perhaps, owing to the un- 
evenness of the ground, the stalk 
got more than its share of mois- 
ture and fertilizer. You know that 
none of the qualities which a plant 
gets by accident is necessarily 
handed down to plants grown from 
its seed. Would it not be safer, 
then, not to stake your crop on 
looks alone, but to stake it on an 
equally well-shaped ear from a family that for 
some years had proved its worth in the field ? 

Second, no quality in seed corn is more to be 
sought after than that it should suit the soil and 




Fig. 66. Handsome 
Ears may disap- 
point YOU 



PLACE AND MANNER OF SELECTING SEED 95 

climate in which it is to be grown. Can you at 
all tell whether this showy stranger w^ould suit your 
soil and your climate? The Nebraska Experiment 
Station planted five varieties of prize show corn from 
Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio, five varieties from various 
parts of the state, and seven from varieties grown 
near the station. The showy seed from outside the 
state yielded thirty-nine bushels to the acre; the 
seed from other parts of the same state yielded 
forty-five bushels, and the home varieties forty-eight 
bushels. Can you afford to lose nine bushels an 
acre on your crop by securing seed from a distance ? 

There are objections, also, to buying from growers 
even in our own sections. Is such buying not more 
expensive than growing your own seed? Is there 
any way for you to find out whether the grower 
has become careless in selecting or caring for his 
seed ? If his land is either poorer or richer than 
yours, would his seed suit your farm as well as 
seed bred on your own land ? 

Taking all these things into consideration, would 
it not be best for you, after the first year, to grow 
your own seed? Would not such growing add to the 
interest of your life on the farm and cause you to have 
a just pride in the excellence of your own seed ? If you 
decide to follow this plan, do you not wish to under- 
stand thoroughly the methods of selecting and improv- 
ing your seed? Unless you can start your crop each 
year with seed that has power to grow vigorously 



96 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



and yield bountifully, you can never hope to be 
numbered among the most successful corn-growers. 
By buying for your first planting well-tried seed 
ears from a neigboring farm, you secure parent ears 
that ought to give you a fine start. Then it will be 




Fig. d"]. Corn from Good Seed 

your part to improve this seed from crop to crop. 
Of course, the first year you can do no more than to 
prepare your seed bed painstakingly and fertilize 
and cultivate your crop wisely and intelligently. 
This will give you stalks of such vigor as to bear 
large and heavy ears. 

You are to begin your seed selection with these 
ears. Accordingly you must decide where and when 



PLACE AND MANNER OF SELECTING SEED 97 

and how to begin your selection. In planning your 
first selection, keep steadily in mind just what you 
w^ant. You already have ears with a fine family 
record. You want now to select from these ears only 
such as have lived up to their record. Then, after a 
careful comparison of your choicest ears, you want 
to put aside for seed only those of unusual excellence. 




Fig. 68. Corn from Poor Seed 

In this way you will start the second year with better 
seed than you had the first year. In making this 
comparison what sort of ears must you seek? 

First, ears which were borne on vigorous, healthy, 
natural plants. 

Second, ears from good stalks that grew under 
the usual conditions of the field. You do not want 
ears from stalks w^hich were favored by some accident 
like having no neighboring stalks to share their plant 



98 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

food and moisture or by some other unusual advan- 
tage. A good ear borne under hard conditions is 
better than a good ear from a stalk which on account 
of some accident was fortunate in its growth. 

Third, ears from stalks that ripened their grain 
neither too early nor too late. Every plant needs to 
use for ripening its fruit all the growing-time which 
nature allows. If it does not do this, it is not suited 
to its climate and soil. 

Fourth, ears from standing stalks. Usually stalks 
that are thrown down are less vigorous than those 
that hold themselves steadily on their roots. 

Fifth, ears from which a heavy weight of dried 
kernels can be shelled. 

Sixth, ears that have all the desirable markings 
mentioned in the last lessons. 

Do you not at once see that to be guided by these 
rules, you must begin your selection in the field 
while the plants are still growing ? If your choice is 
to be made by noting both stalk and ear, of course, 
you can never do this after the ears are thrown in 
the crib. Hence, shall you not, first of all, decide 
that the sure way to improve your seed is to select 
it in the field ? 

When shall you begin this selection ? You will 
have to begin just as the corn is ripening and before 
the blades have lost their green, for at that time you 
can note the vigor or want of vigor of the entire 
stalk. If the stalk is undersized and spindling and 



PLACE AND MANNER OF SELECTING SEED 99 

if the blades are not broad, green, and luxuriant, you 
will know the plant is not vigorous. You can see, 
also, whether the stalk grew under favorable, unfavor- 
able, or usual field conditions. You can also note the 
shank and the height of the ear and whether any 
disease has fastened itself on either stalk or blades. 




Fig. 69. First Field Selection of Seed Ears 



At this time, then, make ready for your first exami- 
nation in the field. Before you go to the field, how- 
ever, you will have to decide how many ears you 
will need. You no doubt know that it takes from 
fifteen to twenty ears to plant an acre. Shall you, 
then, just multiply the number of acres you wish to 
plant by twenty ? Not at all. You should gather at 
least three times as many fine ears as you will need 
for planting. Why? In order that you may compare 



lOO CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

a large number of unusually promising ears and 
then select the very best of these. Hence you will 
multiply your number of acres by twenty and then 
multiply your result by three or perhaps, even better, 
by four. To secure this number of ears it will, of 
course, be necessary to continue examining stalks 
until you find enough strong stalks bearing desirable 
ears to give you that number. 

Having, then, determined when to start your selec- 
tion, you will next have to decide where or from 
what part of your crop you will draw your seed. Of 
course, you cannot examine all the stalks and ears 
in your fields. This would take too long. You do 
not wish to start just at random. What shall guide 
you in deciding where to begin ? Think over these 
points : 

First, you do not desire any stray pollen to get 
mixed with yours. Would it not, then, be best to 
draw your seed from stalks as far away as possible 
from neighboring farms ? Your neighbor may not 
be careful about his seed. 

Second, you are trying to improve your seed. 
Would it not help if you selected stalks and ears 
from a part of your crop that is somewhat better 
than the other parts? 

Third, you are in search of seed that will suit all 
your land. Will you not come near finding such 
seed if you select from a portion of your crop that 
is growing on soil similar to most of your land ? 



PLACE AND MANNER OF SELECTING SEED loi 



After deciding on the field, or portion of field, 
from which to cull your seed ears, you are ready to 
make your first examination. With your general 
rules in mind, pass down the rows and scan each 
stalk and ear. As 
you will see at a 
glance, many are 
not fit for seed. 
As often as you 
come to a promis- 
ing stalk and ear, 
like that shown in 
Fig. 70, stop and 
examine the plant 
closely. If it is 
shown by a closer 
examination : 

First, that the 
plant is weak, not 
thrifty and well- 
shaped, reject it. 

Second, that the 
plant may have 

benefited by any advantage in distance from other 
plants, in manure, moisture, or drainage, reject it. 

Third, that the plant is ripening too early or too 
late, reject it. 

Fourth, that the plant is not held firmly on its 
roots, reject it. 




Fig. 70. A Promising Stalk 




Fig. 71. Too Many Suckers Fig. 72. Ear too Straight 



PLACE AND MANNER OF SELECTING SEED 103 

Fifth, that the plant has too many suckers, or 
tillers, as the one shown in Fig. 71 has, reject it. 

Sixth, that the shank is too long or weak, reject it. 

Seventh, that the 

plant bears its ear too 
straight up, as the one 
shown in Fig. 72 does, 
reject it. 

Eighth, that the 
plant is, like those in 
Fig. 73, bearing ears 
too high or too low for 
the climate, reject it. 

Ninth, that the size 
of the ear is too small 
for the plant or the ear 
is too large for the size 
of the plant, reject it. 

Such plants as are 
not rejected by this 
careful examination 
are likely on a second 
and later examination 
to prove fit stalks from 
which to gather seed. 

As you select the stalks mark about six times as 
many as you need to furnish your calculated number 
of seed ears. This is done by tying a string or some 
other label around the chosen stalks. 




Fig. 73. One Ear too High ; One 
TOO Low 



I04 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Just before the proper time for gathering corn, 
make a second examination of your marked plants. 
This time you will center attention on the ears. As 
you come to your tagged stalks, pull back the husks 




Fig. 74. Boys making theik Second Selection 



from one side of the ear as the boys are doing in 
Fig. 74. You want to find from this examination 
whether the ears have all the desired qualities already 
described. In addition, you wish to see whether the 
ears are dry and well ripened, and have the tips cov- 
ered with husks. It will be prudent, too, to select 
only such ears as droop somewhat from the shank, 



PLACE AND MANNER OF SELECTING SEED 105 

for this drooping will keep out moisture that might 
lead to rotting or freezing or other injury to the ear. 
This second examination will probably lead you 
to reject about half the ears from marked stalks. 
This will leave you 
about three times as 
many ears as you will 
need for planting. 
Gather these ears in 
a bag similar to the 
one shown in Fig. 75. 
As often as your bag 
is filled, carry the 
culled ears to the end 
of the row. Then, if 
you are not going to 
make your final selec- 
tion at the end of the 
row, the ears should 
be hung up in a pro- 
tected place, in order 
to dry rapidly. It will 
be a good day's work 
to gather from three 
to five bushels of choice seed in a day. When you 
have plucked the finest ears from your tagged 
stalks, you will still have, as already noted, about 
three times as many ears as you will need for 
planting. This large number was drawn from the 




Fig. 75. Bag for Seed Ears 



io6 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



field in order to allow you a final selection of the 
very highest type of ears for your next year's seed. 
There are two places in which to make your last 
selection. One is at the end of the rows where you 
have piled your ears. If you use this method, you 




Fig. ^^. Selection at End of Rows 



will go from pile to pile, and from each pile, after 
careful comparison, you will, as shown in Fig. 76, 
pick out what you deem ideal ears. These you will 
haul to the storeroom and keep in a way to be 
described later. Think whether you see any objec- 
tions to this method. Consider these : 

First, would you be sure that the ears are dry .? 



PLACE AND MANNER OF SELECTING SEED 107 

Second, would not this examination have to be a 
hasty one? Why not take time for so interesting 
a task? 

Third, might further drying not bring out defects 
or diseases not then easily seen ? 

The second and better method is to haul all your 
gathered ears to a protected storeroom. Such a 
room should have a fair amount of warmth and a 
free current of air. Be sure to place the ears so that 
they will not touch one another. Avoid all storing 
in boxes, barrels, or sacks. After the ears are com- 
pletely dry, you are ready for your last selection. 
The time taken for drying will, of course, vary in 
accordance with the amount of moisture which the 
corn contained at gathering. Even at harvest-time 
ears plucked from stalks growing in rich bottom 
lands frequently contain much moisture. To save 
damage from freezing, it is often necessary, in sec- 
tions which have early frosts, to gather corn when it 
is still full of moisture. In both of these cases much 
time will be needed for complete drying. As soon as 
the ears are dry, you are ready for your last selection. 

A simple plan is to spread a number of ears on 
a table, as the pupils have done in Fig. ^'], Then 
study each ear with care. Do not accept an ear 
unless it comes up to the high standards already 
described. As soon as you have chosen the best 
ears on the table, remove your selected ones for 
storage and send the others to the crib. Proceed in 



Io8 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



this way until you have an abundant supply for 
seed. This work can be -done on rainy days, and 
should be done without haste and without slackness. 
A few hours spent in this interesting labor will go 
far towards filling your cribs in the following fall. 




Fig. "ji. Selecting from Stored Seed Ears 

In this study of field selection, only the one-eared 
varieties have so far been considered. However, if 
you live in a section in which experience has shown 
that the prolific varieties outyield the one-eared 
varieties and if your land is fertile enough to yield 
from twenty-five to thirty bushels an acre, you will 
do best to plant a prolific corn. In your field selec- 
tion of prolific varieties, you will follow exactly the 



PLACE AND MANNER OF SELECTING SEED 



109 



same methods as you did with the one-eared varie- 
ties, except that you will mark and gather your 
seed from stalks, 
like the one in 
Fig. jd>, which bore 
two excellent ears. 

If you wish to 
improve your seed 
more rapidly than 
you can by simple 
field selection, you 
will be greatly 
interested in try- 
ing the " Ear-to- 
the-row" breeding 
patch. This form 
of breeding is 
called " Ear-to-the- 
row," because you 
must plant each 
row from a sepa- 
rate ear. 

For your breed- 
ing patch select 
one acre as far as 
possible from any 

other cornfield. The land for your patch should be 
like most of your other cornland. It should be level 
and no part of it should be richer than the other 




Fig. 78. 



Selecting from a Two- 
Eared Stalk 



no CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

part. It should be fertilized and cultivated in the 
same way in which you fertilize and cultivate your 
regular crop ; for, as stated before, you do not want 
seed from plants which have been favored. 

Lay the acre off in rows four feet apart. This 
will give you fifty-two rows, each two hundred and 
ten feet long. Keep the two outside rows for what 
are known as " guard rows." These rows are saved 
to catch stray pollen from other fields and to guard 
against the unusual hardships that outside rows 
often have. This will leave you fifty rows for your 
breeding patch. Number the rows from one to fifty. 

Now, select fifty of your finest ears, and remove as 
unfit for seed the kernels at the butts and tips. Be- 
ginning with row No. 2 plant by hand fifty rows. Be 
sure to use a separate ear for each row. Never put 
in any of your fifty rows any seed left from any other 
ear. With what seed is left, plant your two guard 
rows. In all the rows let the stalks stand eighteen 
inches apart, and, after the plants are from eight to 
ten inches high, thin to one stalk in each hill. If, 
however, you prefer the check-row plan of planting, 
drop four kernels to the check and then thin to three 
plants in the hill. 

In the fall, examine the rows, and mark the best 
stalks of the best rows. Gather the ears from each 
row separately, and preserve carefully apart the ears 
marked from the best stalks. Now weigh the ears 
from each row. The total weight of corn from each 



PLACE AND MANNER OF SELECTING SEED 1 1 1 

row will show which are the high yielding rows and 
which are the light bearers. From the rows which 
gave the highest weight, save the ears marked as com- 
ing from the best stalks. Then tag these ears with 




Fig. 79. Yields from Ear-to-Row Patch 



the number of the row from which they came, and 
save them for your next year's breeding patch. The 
other best ears from high yielding rows will be used to 
plant your crop for the coming season. The ears from 
the low yielding rows will be thrown into the crib. 

In the second year the ears chosen as the best 
will, in the same way as before, be planted in the 



112 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

breeding patch. In this way both the high yielding 
ears and the light yielding ears can be found. By 
throwing out the light yielders each year, and plant- 
ing only from those rows that prove themselves 
most fruitful yielders, you can produce and keep 
up a strain of corn which will give you a high 
return for your labor. You will be surprised at the 
different yields of the rows. From ears that looked 
equally good, yields that vary as much as 50 or 
100 per cent are often produced. 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. How far should looks count in an ear of corn ? 

2. How many stalks should you tag in order to provide seed 
for forty ears ? 

3. A fine stalk in your field grew from the spot on which a 
stack of clover hay remained for some time. Would you select 
seed from the ear on this stalk ? 

4. Give two reasons for not selecting seed from stalks growing 
at the very end of your rows. 

5. To secure a proper rotation of crops it is often necessary to 
plant some of your corn rather late. As a rule, would you not 
avoid selecting seed from such late corn ? 

6. One of your neighbors who does not select his seed in the 
field advertises that he has for sale ears that will produce a heavy 
yield of shelled corn to the ear. Give three reasons why you 
would not buy such seed. 

7. In looking over your cornfields you find some excellent 
stalks growing on the only hillside on your farm of two hundred 
acres. State why you would not mark these stalks for seed. 



CHAPTER IX 

STORING THE SEED 

After you have thus painstakingly and thought- 
fully selected your next year's seed, must you not 
make sure that these valuable ears are properly 
preserved until planting time? Many a fine ear is 
injured or ruined by careless storage. We must 
always keep in mind that stored in each kernel 
there is a tender, living plant — the germ. This 
may be injured easily and its life or vigor ended. 
It is the grower's task to keep all harm from this 
tiny germ on which his hopes of an abundant harvest 
depend. What are some of the foes of the germ ? 

First, an ill-suited storage room. The life and the 
vigor of the germ depend largely on protection 
from too much moisture. Ears that are meant for 
seed should be as dry, when they are gathered, as 
field conditions will permit. Then they should be 
kept dry. If the ears are stored in a damp, very 
warm room, mold is likely to form and injure the 
germ. Therefore, for the first two months after 
gathering, the ears should be put in a dry room 
through which enough air to carry away moisture is 
constantly passing. The temperature of the room 
should never be allowed to fall below the freezing 

"3 



114 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

point. If the weather should happen to be wet at 
storage time, put the ears in a room sufficiently 
warmed to drive out the- moisture. It is, however, 
safer for corn to be air-dried rather than fire-dried. 

Second, freezing. As long as there is much 
moisture in the ears, they should never be stored 
where there is clanger of freezing. The freezing of 
the moisture around the germ will kill it. After 
corn is thoroughly dried, there is little danger from 
storage in a freezing temperature, but it is safer 
never to run this risk; for the corn, after its first 
drying out, may again take up moisture. 

Third, late gathering. The longer corn stays in 
the field the longer, of course, the seed ears are 
beaten by rain. No ears set apart for seed should 
stay in the field long enough to be caught by a 
hard freeze. Experience proves that early gathering 
keeps vigor in the germ. 

Fourth, direct sunlight. While a well-lighted 
room is desirable for the ears, they should be so 
placed in the room that the direct rays of the sun 
cannot fall on them. 

Fifth, contact. Seed ears ought never to be stored 
so that they can touch one another. Such touching 
helps to keep moisture in the kernels and increases 
the danger of killing the germ by mold and rot. 

Sixth, rats and mice. Of course, seed must 
always be stored so that it cannot be injured by rats 
and mice. 



STORING THE SEED 115 



APPLYING THE LESSON 



1. In his anxiety to prevent his seed from freezing a young 
grower closed all the doors and windows of the storage room into 
which he had put his freshly gathered ears. If he kept these 
closed, what injury would be done his seed ? 

2. Corn when first gathered contains about 25 per cent of 
moisture. After some weeks of drying it contains only 10 per 
cent. What per cent of the original moisture did it lose ? 

3. Explain the possible danger of storing corn in a cellar. 
Would the kitchen be a good storage room ? Animals breathe out 
a good deal of moisture. Would it be well to store corn in a loft 
over a stable .? Experiments show that corn stored in attics usually 
has healthy germs. Can you give reasons for this ? 

4. On a damp day would you open or close the windows of a 
seed storage-room ? 

5. If your seed corn is in the field and a cold wave is predicted, 
what would you do ? 

Some seedsmen or other large growers who must 
save large quantities of seed build storage houses 
for it. These houses are provided with wire racks, 
slatted shelves, or other arrangements for holding 
the ears so that air may pass freely around them. 
Most of these houses are furnished with stoves or fur- 
naces to dry the corn when it is first stored and to 
keep the rooms fairly warm in very severe weather. 
However, unless a grower has unusually large quan- 
tities of seed to store, the cheaper methods given 
below will keep the seed as safely as though a house 
were built and warmed for them. 



TI' 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 
I 




There are sev- 
eral simple ways 
of keeping safe the 
seed ears. One of 
the most conven- 
ient is shown in 
Fig. 80. You no- 
tice that the ears 
are fastened by 
strong strings to 
a hanging pole ; 
that each ear is 
hung so as not to 

touch any other ear; that air reaches all the ears. 
A second method is known as the " two-string " 

or " seesaw " plan. Fig. 8 1 

show^s clearh' how one ear 

follows the other with a 

string at each end. The 

two pieces of string keep 

the ears from touching and 

permit air to sweep around 

the ears. This plan has an 

advantage over the first 

plan in providing for more 

ears in a small space. After 

ten or twelve ears are " see- 
sawed " in, the tops of the 

string are fastened to a nail. 



Fig. 80. Ears hung from a Pole 



4 





Fig. 81. The "Seesaw" 
Method 



STORING THE SEED 



117 



In order that one man may string the ears, a shuttle 
device (see Fig. 82) was invented to push the strings 
backward and forward as the ears are pushed in. 

A third plan is known 
as the wooden-slat method. 
As 3^ou see from Fig. 83, 
wooden slats are nailed on 
each side of two posts. This 
makes an airy shelf and 
takes up very little room. 





m ii 1 1 I f I t: TTTTrrrr^rrrr' 

fe.M i' i !■! 1 1 M ' ! ! i ! ; ! ? ' . !■! '! ! ? r *. ' , ' ?? ! f ? ' 

ifUfi I ' ? i ' ! n ?; i f ?? ??' !?! ! ' mn i" 1 ? ; ! ? ' ! ' 

TfTTT 



I 



fe 'f t/ r f-i ^ r r f TTTT t rr ri rr . r ? " " f t ? " ■" '' 




Fig. 82. Stringing Device Fig. 83. Wooden-Slat Method 

According to a fourth plan nails without heads 
hold the ears. The nails may be driven into a pole 
supported as shown in Fig. 84, or into a plank to 
which a string is fastened to hang the plank out 
of the way. This plan is illustrated in Fig. 85. Be 
sure that the nails are sufHciently far apart to hold 
the ears without their touching. A large "corn tree," 
as this sort of frame is called, will hold conveniently 



ii8 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



from two to three bushels of seed ears, which will 

be enough to plant from fifteen to twenty acres. 

Still a fifth plan is a wire rack cut from welded 

wire fencing. This method is shown in Fig. 86. In 

the United States over a 
hundred million acres are 
planted in corn each year. 
Every one of these acres 

NvVVV 
'-k,.VV\- 
*fvVVV 

^vvv 



K. 



1 


■ .^^ 


i 

i 


^;;;3ii^^ 




^^^Bv 


( ^ 



Fig. 84. A Corn Tree 



Fig. 85. A Hanging 
Corn Tree 



would yield several bushels more if it were seeded 
with selected, early-gathered, well-dried, and care- 
fully stored ears. The planting of weak, damaged, 
or dead seeds causes an annual loss of millions of 
dollars. This loss can easily be prevented. Surely 



STORING THE SEED 



119 



every grower wishes to know how, by simple devices, 
to save his country from so enormous a loss. 

To sum up, there are two ways to insure good 
seed and thus save so many lost bushels. Each of 
these ways requires 
a little extra work in 
the fall and in the 
spring. The added 
work in the fall will 
be to select your 
seed in the field and 
to gather it early be- 
fore it is damaged by 
rain, cold, or disease, 
and then to store it 
wisely. There will 
usually be little fail- 
ure to sprout or to 
yield when fields are 
planted with selected 
seed ears which have 

been, first, produced by excellent home-grown par- 
ents ; second, gathered soon after they ripened ; 
third, dried carefully and thoroughly ; fourth, stored 
securely until planting-time. 

What is the spring task that will call for some 
painstaking but delightful labor? It is to test each 
of these treasured seed ears in order to remove all 
doubt whether it has power to germinate and to make 




Fig. 86. A Wire Seed Rack 



I20 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

a healthful growth. In no other way than by testing 
can you be sure that your seed will germinate. 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. Why should you never store your seed corn in the husks? 

2. A farmer who stored his seed ears in boxes found in the 
spring that with a fine season and good seed he had a very 'poor 
stand of young plants. Can you explain to him why this was so ? 




Fig. 87. Arranging the Ears 

3. In what month is a freezing spell most likely to injure 
seed ears ? 

4. Can you think of some reasons why air-drying is better for 
seed ears than fire-drying ? 

5. Why should you protect seed ears from late-ripening 
varieties of corn more carefully than ears from early-ripening 
kinds ? 



CHAPTER X^ 

HOW TO TEST SEED CORN 

The sawdust plan of testing the power of seed to 
germinate is practiced on thousands of farms every 
season. Men are learning that they cannot afford 
to plant an ear of corn without knowing that it will 
grow. The test is simple and can be made by almost 
any intelligent child. The steps outlined below and 
the illustrations show how the selected ears are tested. 

1. Arranging the ears (Fig. <S/). Put the ears side by 
side on a table, planks, or anything that may be convenient 
for the purpose. 

2. Picking ont the zveak and poor ears {Fig. 88). After 
the ears are placed on the table study each carefully. Time 
and work can be saved by throwing out any ears that appear 
weak before a germination test is made. Ask the following 
questions as you examine each ear : 

a. Will it yield? that is, will it produce a profitable crop 
in my vicinity t Has it vigor and hardiness ? Among the 
things that show good yielding qualities are proper size and 
shape of ear, firmness and weight of ear, depth of kernel, 
size of germ, well-filled tip and butt. 

b. Will it ripen f that is, will it mature on my farm this 
year and its seed every year thereafter? Lack of maturing 
power is shown by an ear if it is too large and if its kernels 

1 This chapter is adapted from " Seed Corn " by the courteous per- 
mission of the authors, Professors P. G. Holden and J. E. Waggoner. 

121 



122 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

are chaffy, light of weight, loose oh the cob, and of a dull, 
starchy appearance. 

c. Will it grow? that is, is each kernel clear, bright, 
smooth, and horny, with a large germ, or heart ? When the 



Fig. 88. Throwing out Poor Ears 

germs are dull-colored, cheesy in appearance, or of a dark 
color, the ear should be thrown out. On the other hand, 
white, brittle germs show strength. 

d. Does it show improvement f that is, from appearance 
does the ear indicate that there have been men of brains in 
charge of its improvement and that they have spent years 
in carefully selecting its parents } Does the ear resemble 



HOW TO TEST SEED CORN 123 

such ears as uniformly reproduce themselves in type, in 
time of maturity, in size and shape of ear and kernel ? 

Ears that are to be rejected should be carried to the feed 
bin or corn crib, in order that you may avoid any possible 
chance of getting them mixed with the seed corn by mistake. 




Fig. 89. Examining the Remaining Ears 

3. Inspecting the kernels of each ear {Fig. 8g). After 
the choicest ears appear to have been selected, the next 
step is to inspect carefully the kernels of each of these 
ears. Take two or three kernels from each ear, about a 
third of the length of the ear from the butt ; lay them 
germ side up at the tip end of the ear from which they 
were taken. If the kernels are small, narrow, shallow, 
too deep, or show immaturity, starchiness, tendency to 



124 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



mold, or if the germs are small, shriveled, blistered, weak, 
or frozen, the ears should be rejected. 

The work of throwing out the poor ears — those that from 
their appearance are unfit for seed — is easily done. Has 
this inspection, however, made it sure that the remaining 





^^■.: 



Fig. 90. Laying out Ears by Tens 



ears will sprout and grow .? Not at all ; no one can tell from 
such an inspection that the kernels of these ears are certain 
to grow. We shall have to test kernels from each ear to obtain 
such certainty. The following steps show how this is done : 
4. Nimibcring the ears {Fig. go). Lay out the ears in rows 
and separate into groups of ten each, as shown above. It 
will not be necessary to number all the ears, but only those 



HOW TO TEST SEED CORN 



125 



on the right of the nails, as shown in Fig. 90. The numbers 
will read, i , 11, 21, and so on for each row. 

5. Preparing sazvdust {Fig. gi). The sawdust to be used 
in making the test should be put in a gunny sack and soaked 




Fig. 91. Preparing Sawdust 



in warm water at least an hour or, better still, overnight. 
While thus soaking the sawdust it should be well covered 
with water, as shown in Fig. 92. If new sawdust is used, be 
sure to soak it at least one night. 



126 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



In most sections sawdust can be obtained from ice houses, 
sawmills, lumberyards, meat markets, or elsewhere. 

6. Removing excess zvater {Fig. gj). This figure shows 
a method of removing the ^excess water from the sawdust. 

Too much water will 
make the sawdust 
cold and soggy, and 
that would make the 
germination slower. 
Treading is also a 
good way to remove 
the excess water. 

7. Preparing the 
germination box 
(Figs. ()4 and gs). 
Any ordinary shal- 
low wooden box can 
be used as a germi- 
nation box. After 
selecting a box, fill it 
about half full of the 
warm, well-soaked 
sawdust and pack 
it down firmly with 
a brick. The top of the sawdust should be even and level. 
The germination cloth should now be put in the box and 
tucked in carefully around the edges. Notice that there is a 
margin of 2\ inches around the edge of the cloth and that 
the squares ^are 2% by 2\ inches. The germination box 
should be 30 by 30 inches and 4 inches deep. The box can 
be saved from year to year. This box is large enough to 
test 100 ears of corn. 




Fig. 92. Co\i;kix(. Sawium wriii Water 



HOW TO TEST SEED CORN 



127 



8. Removing kernels for gerniination box {Fig. gO). 
Remove six kernels from six different places in ear i and 
place them in a square of the box and mark it i . In removing 
kernels take two from near the butt on opposite sides of 
the ear, two from the 
middle, and two from 
near the tip. In draw- 
ing these kernels turn 
the ear so as not to 
take two kernels out of 
the same row. Uo the 
same with all the ears 
until the germination box 
is full and each square 
is numbered. 

9. Plaeing the kernels 
in the box {Fig. 97) . The 
kernels should be laid in 
the squares with the tips 
all one way and the germ 
side up. Care in placing 
the kernels will assist 
very much in reading 
the tests later. 

10. Laying on the 
cover cloth {Fig. g8). 

As soon as the kernels are all carefully arranged the box is 
ready for the cover cloth. Remember to dip the cover cloth 
in warm water and wring it out before placing it over the 
kernels. Place the cover cloth without disturbing the posi- 
tion of the kernels. This cloth helps to keep the kernels 
in place and should always be used. 




Fig. 93. Removing Excess Water 



128 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



1 1. Laying on the top cloth (Fig. gg). The top cloth fits 
just over the cover cloth. It should be several inches larger 
than the germination box, so that it may be folded over the 
top after it has received the sawdust. 

12. Packing sawdust {Fig. TOO). The space in the box 
above the cover cloth should now be filled with warm sawdust. 




Fig. 94. Preparing Germination Box 



packed down carefully, either as shown in Fig. 100 or with 
a brick as in Fig. 94. The brick is usually preferable. 

13. Covering the box {Fig, 1 01). This shows how the top 
cloth should be folded in over the edges of the germination 
box. 

14. Raising side of box {Fig. 102). The side of the box 
toward which the crowns of the kernels are pointed should 
be raised. If this is done the kernels, when germinating, 
will follow the laws of nature and send the stems toward 




Fig. 95. Putting Germination Cloth in Box 




Fig. 96. Removing Kernels for Germination Box 




Fk;, ()7. I'l.A i\;, ]\:.r\i-:i.s ix 'riii-. S(H'.\iii-:s 




Fig. 98. Laying on Cover Cluih 



HOW TO TEST SEED CORN 



131 



the upper part of the box, and the roots will go downward. 
This arrangement of stems and roots will be a great help in 
reading the final test which shows the ears that are fit for seed. 




Fig. 99. Laying on Top Cloth 



15. Waiting for seed to gerviinate {Fig. lOj). The figure 
shows a convenient arrangement for holding the ears in 
place until the germination test is ready to read. It is simply 
to place a board over the rows to keep the ears in place. It 
usually takes from seven to eight days for corn to germinate 
well. When several tests are to be made, the boxes may, for 



132 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



convenience of storing, be placed on top of one another. 
The boxes should now be put away in an ordinary living 
room, cellar with furnace, or some other warm place. 

1 6. Removing the top cloth- {Figs. lO/j. and 10^). To find 
whether the kernels are ready for examination remove the 

top cloth, including 
the sawdust. 

The top cloth 
should always be re- 
moved carefully so 
as not to displace 
any of the kernels. 
When the sprouts 
are about two inches 
long it is time to 
read the tests. 

17. Reading the 
test {Fig. 106). The 
test shows what ker- 
nels are either weak 
or dead. The weak or 
dead ears from which 
these kernels came 
should be put in the 
feed bin. The ears 
whose kernels show 
from medium to strong sprouts and the ones that were slow 
in starting to sprout should be put together and carefully 
labeled to prevent any mistakes in the future. The ears 
from which these kernels were plucked should be used only 
in case there is a shortage of seed corn. They should be 
tested again before they are used as seed. 




Fig. 100. Packing the Warm Sawdust 



HOW TO TEST SEED CORN 133 

18. A section of a germination box {Fig. lOJ). For the 
reasons given below, ears 2, 11, 12, and 24 should be 



Fig. 10 1. Covering the Tester 

immediately removed and carried to the feed bin for fear 
they may get mixed with the others by mistake. The kernels 
of ear 2 are weak. One kernel has not sprouted at all, only 




Fig. I02, Raising onk Side of the Box 




Fig. 103. Waitixg for Seed to Germinate 




Fig. 104. Removing Top Cloth 




Fig. 105. Removing the Cover Cloth 




Fig. io6. Readixg the Test 




Fig. 107. Section of Germination Box 



HOW TO TEST SEED CORN 



137 



swollen a little. The kernels of ear 1 1 show one dead and 
one weak kernel ; ear 1 3 has six dead kernels ; ear 24, three 
dead kernels. The kernels from ears 21 and 23 are weak 
and slow in sprouting and should be put to one side and not 
used unless necessary. The kernels from ears i, 3, 4, 12, 




Fig. 108. Shelling the Corn 



14, and 22 show vigorous sprouts. Ears like 2, which show 
some life, if planted will produce plants that will grow slowly 
all summer and probably produce little or no grain. 

Many experiments have proved that weak ears, like 2, 
when planted beside strong ears, like 22, produce only about 
half as much corn. The results of thousands of tests show 
that there is often from 15 to 60 bushels less yield from 
weak seed than from strong. There is no doubt that testing 
pays. Test every ear. Do not guess. 



138 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



19. Butting and tipping. After removing the weak and 
dead ears, and selecting ears for the breeding plat from which 
to obtain next year's seed corn, butt and tip the remaining 
ears. You are now sure that they are excellent seed ears. 

20. Shelling the corn (Fig. J 08). Each ear should be 
shelled by itself and its kernels carefully examined. Are the 




Fig. 109. Hanging up Corn from the Best Ears 



kernels well shaped ? Do they carry their size well down 
to the tip .? Have they a clear, clean color, and a bright, 
healthy, horny appearance ? If they do not possess these 
qualities, the ears from which they were drawn should be 
thrown into the feed bin. On the other hand, if the kernels 
are large and the quality is good, put them in the box marked 
" First grade — large size." If the kernels are only second 
rate in quality, they should be marked ''Second grade — 
large size." The small-sized kernels should be treated in the 
same way. Seed from the first grade should be planted first. 



HOW TO TEST SEED CORN 



139 



Do not use the second grade unless necessary. Careful atten- 
tion to grading each ear after it has been shelled will help 
in deciding what plates to use in the planter in order to 
secure a uniform, regular dropping. 

21. Caring for seed until planting-time {Fig. Jog). After 
the seed has been sorted, tested, shelled, and graded for the 
planter, it should be sacked, a half bushel in each sack, and 
hung up in a dry place where it will not freeze. Either a 
dry, well-ventilated attic, or basement with a furnace is a 
good place for hanging the seed. 

Notice especially the white sacks on the left bearing the 
label "' Seed from the 100 Best Ears." It is a good plan to 
put the best seed into white sacks to distinguish them from 
the general supply of seed, which, it will be noticed, has 
been put into gunny sacks. 

Be sure in planting to use the best seed first. Plant this 
seed on one side of the field and from it pick your seed 
corn for next year's planting. 



CHAPTER XI 

SOIL FOR CORN 

Ready now with choice seed, you must decide in 
what sort of soil to plant this seed. There are, as 
you perhaps already know, many kinds of soil. You 
do not care to waste your selected seed on land un- 
fit for corn. What type of soil must you choose ? 

One of the reasons why corn is king among the 
grains is that it thrives on so wide a variety of soils. 
Some of the highest yields have been made on dif- 
ferent kinds of soil. Dr. Z. V. Drake of Marlborough 
County, South Carolina, grew 239 bushels on an acre 
of sandy land. So well had this originally poor acre 
of sandy land been prepared for corn that Dr. Drake 
had to set posts and tack strips along his rows to 
hold the crowding plants in place. Charles Parker, 
a Hertford County, North Carolina, boy, produced 
2 1 3 bushels on an acre of sandy loam. E. S. Fursman 
of Woodford County, Illinois, found that he could 
grow 160 bushels on one acre of the usual type of 
prairie soil. Mr. Alfred Rose of Penn Yan, New 
York, coaxed an acre of clay land to yield 1 99 bushels. 

These examples prove that any well-drained soil 
which has a fair supply of humus in it will, with 
good seed, careful cultivation, skillful fertilizing, and 

140 



SOIL FOR CORN 141 

sufficient rain, produce a paying corn crop. If, how- 
ever, you are so fortunate as to have a choice of 
soils, select a deeply drained, finely grained, black, 
brown, red, or sandy loam for your corn. 

Let us take, for example, a boy who has decided to 
enter the next year s contest for the highest yield of 











Fig. no. Charles Parker and his Two Hundred and Thir- 
teen Bushels of Corn from One Acre 



corn on one acre. His father offers him the choice 
of any acre on his farm, but for some reason prefers 
his taking a field already planted in corn. Would 
it not be wise for the boy to go over the farm while 
the present crop is growing ? Would this not show 
him what soil might be counted on for a high yield 
provided he did his part ? Would it not also show 
what land to avoid ? 



142 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

Suppose he went first to a field like the one 
pictured in Fig. iii. What would these spindling 
stalks, narrow leaves, and vacant hills tell him about 
the soil ? Would there be much chance to make 
such soil rich in one year? Should not the boy 
decide against such an acre ? Have you ever noticed 
how some farmers plant corn in fields which, like 
this one, have already proved themselves too poor to 
grow a paying crop ? What, instead of corn, ought 
to be planted in such a field ? 

Suppose the boy in search of a good acre went 
next to such a field as is pictured in Fig. 1 1 2. Notice 
that there is some good corn in this field. What 
effect, however, would the barren spots have ? Could 
the boy hope to get a high yield if he lost a part of 
his acre on account of such spots? Would it not 
be hard for him to equal the yield of a boy who was 
using land without such spots? If the boy knew a 
year ahead that he would be obliged to grow his 
crop on such land, could he have made these eye- 
sores fertile ? Until he could improve all these 
spots, would it not be best for him to select his 
acre elsewhere? 

Next, suppose the boy, with his eyes still open, 
came to a field like the one in Fig. 113. What 
would the swamp grass on the left and in the center 
of the picture tell him about such spots? Would 
not these also cut down his yield ? Could he afford 
to select an acre from a field with such places in it ? 







Fig. III. Soil too Poor for Corn- 




Fig. 112. Barren Spots cut down Yield 



144 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Would it be easier to get rid of these barren spots 
than of those in the other field ? 

Let us follow the boy to still another field. Do you 
see any reason why he should not select an acre 
from such a field as is set before you in Fig. 114? 
Look at the rows alongside the woods. Would not 
such rows bring down the boy's yield if he chose an 
acre too near a forest? The soil on which these 
rows are growing is as fertile as the other soil in 
the field. What kept these rows from getting plant 
food? Did the trees steal from them? The corn 
at a distance from the trees is excellent. If the boy 
can find no better field than this one, where should 
he lay off his plat ? Should seed and labor ever be 
wasted on rows next to woods ? 

Still hoping to find a field near his ideal, the 
young seeker comes to a field similar to the one 
shown in Fig. 1 15. Do you not agree with him that 
while the corn is fairly good, weeds are thick? Will 
not the soil next year be even more full of weeds? 
Would this not make the boy labor harder to keep 
his crop clean ? If the season should be wet, could 
he keep the weeds down ? Would you select an acre 
from such a field ? 

In Fig. 1 16 you see that the boy has found a more 
promising field than any yet examined. Are there 
any weeds in sight? Are there any scalded or un- 
drained spots? Are there any woods close by? 
Does not the level land lead you to think that there 



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1^^^^ 


.^ 




1 _ J 



Fig. 113. Soil too Wet in Spots 




Fig. 114. Yield cut down by Trees 




Fig. 115. Weeds reduce Yields 




Fig. 116. A Good Crop but no Thought for Next Year 




Fig. 117. A Good Crop of Corn with Next Year in Mind 




Fig. 118. Result of neglecting the Soil 



148 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



will be no washing away of costly plant food ? Does 
not the luxuriant growth of stalks convince you 
that the soil is rich ? Do you find any crop between 
the rows? 

Just as the boy is about to decide on this field 
his eyes fall on a field in front of him. Such a 

field is pictured in 
Fig. 1 1 7. Do you 
find that this field 
has all the good 
qualities of the 
field in which the 
boy is standing? 
Do not fail to note 
the cowpeas grow- 
ing in this field. 
Bearing in mind 
that cowpeas en- 
rich soil, would 
this field have an advantage over the other? If it is 
just as good in all other qualities would the boy be 
right in taking the last field ? Would you select it ? 
If a 3^oung farmer is bent on raising high-yielding 
corn crops, will he not have to keep his land free 
from the drawbacks just considered? Compare the 
field in Fig. 118 with the fields in Figs. 117 and 119. 
Carelessness and ignorance have caused the soil in 
the first field to lose its power. Skill and knowledge 
have kept the latter fields full of plant food. 




Fig. 119. This Crop shows Skillful 
Handling of the Soil 



SOIL FOR CORN 149 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. Does every tree in a cornfield reduce the yield of the field ? 

2. What would be a thoughtful thing to do with the land near 
a piece of woods ? 

3. Before you try to get rid of a barren spot what ought you to 
try to find out ? 

4. If a boy lost one hundred and twenty-five ears for each 
barren spot in his acre, and he had four such spots, how many 
bushels would he lose ? What per cent of a checked acre with the 
rows four feet apart, with the hills four feet in the row, and with 
three stalks to the hill would this loss be ? 

5. Besides adding to the labor of cultivation, what ill effects do 
weeds have on your crops ? 



CHAPTER XII 

FIRST STEPS IN CULTIVATION 

One of the things giving zest to corn-growing is 
that the crop must be managed in so many different 
ways. Even the earhest preparation for the coming 




FKt. 120. A SrUKlil.K FlElA) TO JIK MADE READY l-OK CuRN 

crop varies somewhat widely in time and manner. 

After you have set aside certain fields for corn, you 

cannot begin your preparation of these fields in the 

same fashion. The preparatory work will depend 

largely on what crop the corn is to follow. 

If you have selected a field which was planted in 

wheat, oats, or rye, what will be your first step in 

preparing for your corn ? The harvesting of the 

small grain in the early summer will leave the land 

150 



FIRST STEPS IN CULTIVATION 



151 



in the condition shown in Fig. 120. Above the sur- 
face are the butts of the grain stalks; below the 
surface is a fairly thick tangle of roots. The decay 
of these butts and roots will improve the soil and 
thus be helpful to the corn. In thinking over plans 
for your first cultivation of such a field two ques- 
tions arise: Shall you let the field lie untouched 








Fig. 121. Disking a Stubble Field 



until time for the fall plowing, or shall you disk 
it as soon as the grain is removed? Which will be 
the better plan ? 

If you disk the field, what will result? Let us 
see. First, will not the soil dry out less because the 
disking will leave an earth mulch on the surface? 
Will not this dry mulch save moisture that would 
be lost during the summer months ? Will not all 
saved moisture be helpful to your crop? 



152 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Second, will not this disking check a growth of 
weeds during the summer? Would not a crop of 
weeds rob the soil of much plant food? 

Third, would not the disking loosen the soil and keep 
it from turning up in clods during the fall plowing? 




Fig. 122. A Legume to help Next Year's Crop 



Fourth, would not the disking make the grain 
stubble rot faster? How would this help the soil? 

Would you gain anything but a saving of labor 
by not disking? Do not all the advantages seem, 
therefore, to be on the side of disking? There is 
only one case in which you would not find disking 
the wise plan. In sections of our country where 
summer crops grow, one of these should follow the 



FIRST STEPS IN CULTIVATION 153 

grain and be your first step in preparation for corn. 
With this exception shall not a prompt disking of 
small grain stubble be your earliest work in getting 
such land ready for corn ? 

What are these summer crops? What will be 
gained by planting one of them just before corn? 
You perhaps already know that such crops are 
called legumes. The name " legume " is one given to 
a family of plants which have the wonderful power of 
gathering nitrogen from the air and fixing it in the 
soil. There are two classes of legumes: one class, 
containing among others the cowpeas and soy beans, 
grows in summer; the other class, containing the 
clovers and vetches, grows in the winter months. 

If you are farming in a climate suited to these 
summer crops, you should never fail to call one of 
them to your aid in providing food for corn. How 
does such a crop pave the way for a big corn yield ? 

First, as just seen, it adds nitrogen to the soil. 
Nitrogen is the most costly of the plant foods and 
one of the most needed. 

Second, it will produce a dense foliage. If this 
is plowed under, the decaying foliage will add much 
humus to the soil. 

Third, it will keep down weeds and prevent wash- 
ing and leaching, and injurious baking during the 
summer. 

Winter legumes, such as the clovers, thrive in 
some of the same sections in which summer legumes 



154 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



do. If you live in such a section and are really in 
earnest about harvesting a big crop of corn, would 
it not be a capital plan to plant crimson clover just 
after the summer legume ? The cowpeas or soy beans 




Fig. 123. A Winter Legume following a Summer Legume 

can be turned under or cut for forage in time to 
sow the clover. The clover, in turn, completes its 
growth in time to plant the corn. Would not the 
clover add still more nitrogen and humus to your 
corn soil ? Would this not leave your land in better 
condition in the spring? Would it not, at the same 
time, prove an excellent cover crop to save your land 
from washing and leaching during the winter? 



FIRST STEPS IN CULTIVATION 155 

In case you planted either cowpeas or soy beans, 
both summer growers, and did not follow these by 
clover, what should be your first steps in getting ready 
for corn after this crop ? There are two plans open 
to you. The first is to turn under the vines after you 
have set apart enough to ripen for seed. The vines 
will, of course, be changed into humus during the 
winter. By this plan will not your land be enriched 
by the nitrogen which the roots have gathered ? 
Will it not also be enriched by the humus from 
both roots and vines? Will the turning under of 
this mass of vegetation prevent washing? The 
second plan is to cut the vines for forage after taking 
care to save seed. By this plan the soil will be bene- 
fited only by the nitrogen and humus from the roots 
and the stubble. 

If you follow the second plan, would you have 
any cover crop on the land during the wintry rains ? 
Would not your land, therefore, be in danger of 
washing and losing much valuable plant food? 
Could this washing and leaching be lessened by 
deep fall plowing? Would not the deep plowing 
enable the water to sink in and be held in the soil 
instead of running off? Would not the ridging of 
the soil by the plowing also open the way for it 
to be still further mellowed by the winter's freezing 
and thawing? If the fields from which you took 
the legume w^ere very sloping, would even deep 
plowing save them from washing? With sloping 



156 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



or steep lands would it not be safest to wait until 
spring to plow? Spring plowing, however, leads to 
rather rapid loss of moisture. Have you never noted 
how freshly plowed land " steams " on a warm, 
spring day ? The " steaming " is merely mois- 
ture rising out of the soil. Could you not stop this 

loss of moisture 
by harrowing just 
after plowing so 
as to form a dry 
mulch on top of 
the soil ? If the 
harrowing will 
save this water, 
why not do it ? 

In case your 
way is clear to 
plant a winter 
legume like crim- 
son clover just after the summer legume, what 
will be your first step in preparing for corn after 
this legume? The clover, planted in the fall, is 
ready for harvesting at the coming of spring. Like 
the summer legume, it has benefited the soil by 
furnishing nitrogen and by lessening washing and 
leaching, and it is now ready to supply the soil 
with vegetable matter. Unlike the peas or beans, 
it offered, if needed, some grazing for the farm 
animals. 




Fig. 124. Clover cut for Food 



FIRST STEPS IN CULTIVATION 157 

Like the other legume, the clover may be used in 
two ways. First, it may be turned under and all its 
vegetable matter changed into humus. This is very 
helpful to the land, but is attended by one danger. 
Sometimes in spring the growth of the clover is 
very luxuriant. If you turn this heavy mass of vines 
under, it will not rot at once. What may and what 
often does happen ? The plow buries this tangled 
mass of vegetation. There it lies unrotted for a 
time between the bottom layer of earth and the top 
layer. It, of course, separates the two layers. In the 
top layer you make your seed bed and plant your 
corn. Then what becomes of the moisture that ought 
to supply the corn ? The moisture below the clover 
tries to rise, but is stopped by the clover. Through 
the clover there are no soil tubes to lead the water 
upward to the corn. Hence the lower water is 
stopped. The moisture in the seed bed is soon used 
up, for it cannot be supplied from below. Hence 
the corn is left thirsty, wath an abundance of water 
almost in reach. 

Can you think of a simple way to prevent this 
unexpected injury to the young corn? If, before 
plowing, you cut the clover to pieces with a disk 
harrow, w^ould not this prevent it? Would such 
disking also hasten the rotting of the vines? Then, 
too, would it not, if possible, be well to wait two 
or three weeks after turning under the clover before 
making your seed bed ? This would give more time 



158 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



for the clover to rot and allow the soil tubes to con- 
tinue towards the surface. Of course, if the clover 
was not very thick on the land the disking would 
not be needed. 

The other method of using the clover is to cut it 
for hay. Will this method add as much humus to 

the soil? If you turn 
in only the stubble 
can you expect to in- 
crease your land in 
fertility ? 

In case you are so 
unfortunate as to be 
forced to plant a field 
in corn just after it 
has been in corn, what 
will be your first step 
in preparation ? You 
know that crops like 
corn are called clean- 
culture crops. The name was given because at the 
end of the cultivating season nothing but the crop 
is supposed to be on the ground. There is little 
vegetable matter to be turned under to aid in feed- 
ing the next crop, for the cornstalks do not supply 
much humus. Will you be able to grow a fine crop 
without humus? Will you not, as your first step, 
seek to provide humus? Could you do this in any 
quicker way than by scattering manure over your 



iAft£^ 


^m 




H 


^^K^ 

^^^^^1 


^K 


l^^M^Mm 



Fig. 125. Disking in the Clover 



FIRST STEPS IN CULTIVATION 



159 



fields? Would the manure add both humus and 
plant food ? If you broadcasted the manure would 
it not lose plant food if it were left uncovered on 
the ground? Could you prevent this loss if you 
disked the manure into the soil as soon as you 
finished spreading it? Would you spread your 




Fig. 126. Manuring when Corn must follow Cokx 



manure from a wagon by means of a fork, or w^ould 
you use a manure-spreader? Unless, then, you are 
farming in a state where summer legumes aid the 
farmer, the first step to take in following corn by 
corn is to disk in manure. 

In case you live in a section in which legumes 
are commonly grown, can you not keep your corn 
from being a " clean-culture crop " ? If you planted 
cowpeas or soy beans or other summer legumes 
between the corn rows, would you not get from the 



l6o CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

legume a supply of vegetable matter to go back 
into the soil ? Would this not save the cost of 
manuring? Or, if in August or September, you 
broadcasted crimson clover, rye, or a mixture of the 
two in the corn, would you not have an excellent 
way of returning humus to the soil ? We have just 
seen the great help such crops are to the soil. 
Would not, therefore, the sowing of one of these 
crops be the sensible first step to take ? 

In case your corn is to be planted in a field which 
has been in cotton or tobacco, what would be your 
first step ? Both cotton and tobacco are clean-culture 
crops. If plowed under, the stalks and leaves of the 
cotton add considerable humus. The stems of the 
tobacco would add very little. Cotton and tobacco 
grow only in parts of the country in which legumes 
can be raised. Could you not, therefore, follow these 
two crops by legumes, as was suggested in the case 
where corn follows corn? Can you think of any 
better plan to help your corn? 

APPLYING THE LESSON 

1. If you plowed under a heavy crop of legumes, would you 
need to buy much, if any, nitrogen ? 

2. If you had three fields to prepare for corn and each field 
had just borne a different crop, would you prepare them in the 
same way ? 

3. When you plow under a heavy crop of legumes without 
disking, why do you frequently get so poor a stand of corn? Is 
this especially true in dry weather ? 




Fig. 127. Soy Beans between the Corn Rows 




Fig. 128. Getting ready for Corn by growing Bur Clover 
IN Cotton Field 



1 62 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

4. In passing a plowman you see that he is turning up clods. 
If there were enough vegetable, matter in the soil, would he be 
troubled with these clods ? 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. Explain why bottom lands are frequently more fertile than 
the neighboring uplands. 

2. Here is a piece of land which packs after a rain. In the 
light of this lesson, how could you change this land into good 
corn land .'' 

3. Would you prefer rye or clover as a cover crop ? Is the rye 
a legume ? Would it add any nitrogen ? Would both crops provide 
some spring grazing ? Which can be removed from the land 
the earlier ? 

4. When the owner of a piece of land found it had little humus 
left in it he planted it in clover. In the spring he was undecided 
whether to cut the clover or turn it under. Which would you advise ? 

5. A farmer is much troubled by his land's washing. Can you 
mention three ways to lessen the washing ? 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE SECOND STEP IN CULTIVATION 

The plow, as we all know, is one of the oldest 
tools of the farm. In its first form it was only a 
forked stick. It was drawn in earliest days by man, 
but when he tired of this irksome task, animals were 
harnessed to the plow. From an early form like the 
clumsy tool illustrated in Fig. 129, the plow has been 
changed to costly implements like that pictured 
in Fig. 130. It is interesting to know that two of 
America's ablest statesmen — Thomas Jefferson and 
Daniel Webster — were inventors of plows. During all 
these changes the plow has continued to be the main 
tool of cultivation. So clearly has this been under- 
stood that farmers are called followers of the plow. 

We would think that, during the centuries in 
which the plow has been the farmer's mainstay 
in cultivating plants, all questions as to plowing 
would have been decided. We would think that by 
now every " follower of the plow " would know why 
he plows, how to plow, and when to plow. But these 
questions, the most important in farming, are still 
debated. 

If you were asked why you plow, what would be 
your answer? A thoughtful farmer on being asked 

163 



1 64 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

this question gave the following reasons. Do you 
agree with him ? " I plow," said he, " to get these 
results : 

" First, to cover with earth all grass, stalks, leaves, 
and other vegetable matter on the land. If these 
are covered they will soon rot and become a much- 
needed part of the soil. 

" Second, to loosen the soil so that rain, instead of 
running off from hard soil and being lost, 'may easily 
soak into the plowed land. There it will be held, 
like water in a well, until my plants are ready for it. 
Any loss of moisture is almost a sin. 

" Third, to keep the grains of soil fine and close 
to one another. If the grains are not too loose, the 
spaces between them will act like tubes to lead up 
moisture from below the surface as plants are ready 
for it. 

" Fourth, to soften the earth so that plant roots 
may push easily into the earth in search of plant 
food and have a wide feeding-area. 

" Fifth, to open the soil so as to let in air and 
water. This weathering will add to the supply of 
plant food and allow the land to be benefited by 
freezing and thawing. 

" Sixth, to kill the weeds so that their seed may 
not produce a crop to cumber the ground in the 
spring." 

Since plowing, then, is important in so many 
ways to the tiller of land, should not everyone who 




Fig. 129. One of the Earliest Forms of a Plow 




Fig. 130. A Tractor Plow 
The squares show the number of acres broken in one day by this plow 



1 66 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



expects to farm learn the best methods of plowing ? 
In England and Scotland farmers have regular 
training schools to teach boys how to handle plows. 
Prizes are offered yearly to young plowmen who in 
plowing contests display the most skill and judgment. 

In some of the 
Western states of 
America plowing 
contests are made 
the main events 
of a yearly holi- 
day. Why should 
you not persuade 
your school to start 
such a contest ? 

What is to be 
sought in plowing 
a field? No plow- 
ing is satisfactory 
unless : 

First, the fur- 
rows are straight and of uniform depth and width. 
Second, the plow sets the furrow slice on edge so 
that the soil may easily weather. If the slice is 
turned entirely over, weathering is not so easy. 

Third, the plow leaves no land unbroken between 
the furrows. 

Fourth, the plowing thoroughly covers all weeds, 
grass, or stubble. 




Fig. 131. A Well-Plowed Field 



THE SECOND STEP IN CULTIVATION 167 

Keeping in mind these facts as to methods of 
plowing, you must next decide when you will break 
the land for corn. Shall you do this breaking in the 
fall and early winter or shall you wait until spring ? 
Of course, if the land to be seeded in corn was sown 
in a winter legume, you would be forced to put off 
the breaking until spring. However, as the spreading 
roots of this winter crop would keep the land open, 
would the legume not really be doing your fall 
plowing ? 

In all other cases, unless the weather is too severe 
or too wet for farm work, the question of early or 
late plowing must be decided. It sometimes happens 
that affairs on the farm, like a scarcity of labor or 
the gathering of other crops, make it impossible to 
do any fall or early winter plowing ; but if a farmer 
can control his time and his plows, are there any 
advantages in early plowing ? The applying of some 
truths which you already know may assist you in 
answering this question. 

If in the fall your land has a cover of vegetable 
matter on it, are you willing for any of this matter 
to be wasted ? Do you not wish that every ounce of 
it may be changed into humus to aid in nourishing 
the corn in the spring? Would not the rotting of 
this vegetable matter be hastened by covering it in 
the fall? How do plants feed? You recall, do you 
not, that all plant food must be dissolved in water 
and then drawn into the plant's life by the hairy 



l68 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

roots? Now, if the vegetable matter on the soil in 
the fall remains unrotted until spring, will not the 
water and the root hairs have a hard task? Would 
their work not be made easy if the fall covering had 
changed all the matter into humus? Hence, for the 
turning of all vegetation on the land into humus, is 
not fall and early winter plowing a wise practice ? 




Fig. 132. Is THIS a Satisfactory Way to plow? 

Again, you know how necessary it is to plant 
growth to have the soil fined and mellowed. If you 
plowed before very cold weather, would this not 
leave your soil in a proper condition to be crum- 
bled by the freezing and thawing of winter? Would 
not this winter weathering be useful even in com- 
paratively warm climates? Therefore, for the sake 
of using nature's power instead of horse power, is 
not fall plowing advisable? 



THE SECOND STEP IN CULTIVATION 169 

The great army of insects that attack corn must 
be fought. Will not plowing your land early in the 
fall help to break up their winter homes? Will it 
not turn many of them out of comfortable quarters 
to be destroyed by cold ? So, if you want to lessen 




Fig. 133. Saving Moisture bv a Spring-tooth Harrow 

the injury done by insects, can you do it in any 
easier way than by wrecking their winter homes by 
the plow ? 

Saving moisture is one of the surest ways of 
adding bushels to your corn crop. Does fall plowing 
save moisture? Have you not noticed that the top 
soil of ground which was plowed in the fall or 
winter is drier at planting time than the top soil 



170 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

of land not so plowed ? Did not the fall plowing 
so open and loosen the soil that rain could sink 
down deep ? Since the rain went deep into the soil 
does this not leave the surface dry? Will not this 
dry soil warm up early in the spring? What aid 
will this warm soil be to the sprouting of your corn ? 
What to its vigorous young growth ? When the hot 
days come, will the moisture far below the surface 
be drawn to the top ? Will not this be the very time 
at which the moisture is needed ? Therefore, is not the 
saving of moisture another reason for fall plowing ? 

To still further save moisture you must call your 
harrow into service, as is shown in Fig. 134. Fine 
clay soils, especially in sections of heavy rainfall, 
should not be harrowed in the fall after the plowing. 
A harrowing would make them run together and 
pack. However, fall-plowed lands should always be 
harrowed early in the spring. Lands which are not 
broken until the spring should at once be harrowed. 
The dry surface mulch left by the harrow is nature's 
way of saving water. 

There is always more or less of a rush in the 
spring to get the seed bed ready and the seed 
planted. Cannot a farmer spare time for breaking 
his land in the fall or winter better than he can in 
the spring? Is this not an excellent reason for his 
getting part of his plowing done ahead of the rush ? 
Therefore, lastly, for the sake of saving time is not 
fall plowing the best rule ? 



THE SECOND STEP IN CULTIVATION 



171 



With a big corn crop in mind, how deep should 
you break your land in the fall? This is a hard 
question to answer. The depth of plowing should 
be governed by the kind of soil and its condition 




Fkt. 134. A Cutaway Harrow 



and by the climate. There are, in America, many dif- 
ferent kinds of soils in which corn is planted. There 
is a wide range of climates and soil conditions. A 
depth that fits the needs in one place or in one soil 
may not be what is needed in other circumstances. 
Learn from your State Experiment Station and from 
the most successful corn growers in your neighbor- 
hood what is the best depth for your farm. 



172 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

The following general suggestions may always be 
kept in mind : 

First, open, loose, porous soils, such as sandy 
lands and lands full of humus, do not need as deep 
plowing as heavier lands. In such soils a depth of 
six or seven inches is probably enough. 

Second, the ordinary clays and loams in an 
average condition of fertility will usually yield best 
when they have been broken to a depth of eight to 
ten inches. 

Third, thin clay and thin loamy soils, which have 
never been broken deeply, should be gradually 
broken to a depth of eight to ten inches. 

Fourth, on all but very loose soils, the deeper the 
plowing within reasonable limits the wider is the way 
opened for the pasturage of your corn roots and the 
holding of moisture. 

Spring plowing should never be as deep as fall 
plowing. Remembering how moisture rises in soils, 
can you give a reason for this rule? In spring plow- 
ing there are four things that should always be 
done and two that should never be done. These 
are as follows: 

First, the plowing should be done early before 
the hot sun and the wind rob the land of its moisture. 
As soon as the ground will crumble readily, start 
your plows. 

Second, the plowing should be done in ample 
time to warm the earth for the corn seed. The 



THE SECOND STEP IN CULTIVATION 173 

warm seed bed will favor germination of the kernels 
and hasten the growth of the young corn. 

Third, the plowing should be finished a week or 
two before seeding time so as to allow the loose 




Fig. 135. A Harrow following Deep Plowing 

earth to settle. As soon as the earth settles, the soil 
tubes will form and bring up water as it is needed. 

Fourth, the plowing should always be done in 
accordance with the kind of land. Loose soils may 
be plowed earlier than heavy ones. 

The two things that should never be done are 
these : 



174 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

First, the ground should never be plowed when it 
is too wet. Often the farmer is so anxious to start 
his crop that he plows before the ground is dry. 
The clodding of the land from being plowed when 
it is too wet will often injure it for a year or two. 

Second, the plowing should, on the other hand, 
not be done when the ground is too dry. 

APPLYING THE LESSON 

1. A plowman undertook in the spring to prepare a city lot for 
corn. Here is what a farmer noticed : first, the plowman burned 
the weeds on the lot ; second, when he had finished plowing, the 
furrow slices were slick and uncrumbled ; third, he left the soil 
untouched some time after he plowed it. 

Name each mistake the plowman made. 

2. A young farmer making his first crop of corn on a rather 
heavy clay loam soil which had just been in cotton took these steps : 
first, he burned the cotton stalks in February ; second, he broke 
his land nine inches deep on March 15 ; third, he disked his land 
on April 15 ; fourth, he planted his corn on April 16. 

Point out all his mistakes. 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. How is deeply plowed land like a well ? 

2. Why is the power of water to dissolve so many substances 
exceedingly helpful to the farmer ? 

3. Try to work out why the moldboard of all plows has the 
same general shape. 

4. Why will corn growing on clay or other close-grained soils 
which have not been plowed deeply suffer from drought in a dry 
season and from too much water in a wet season ? 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE THIRD STEP IN CULTIVATION — THE 
SEED BED 

Suppose that just as a healthy, hungry boy seated 
himself at a table which was loaded with palatable 
food, someone were to tie his hands and then say, 
" Help yourself freely to every dish on the table." 
The boy, if left tied, would starve in a house of 
plenty. You would think this a cruel way to treat 
the boy. 

Yet do we not often treat plants in this very way ? 
There is plant food in most lands if we till them 
deeply and pulverize the soil ; but instead of putting 
this food within reach we prepare a cold, rough, 
shallow seed bed. In such a bed we plant our corn 
and practically say, " Now sprout and help yourself 
to all the plant food in sight." Are not the roots of 
the plants tied by the shallow feeding-bed just as 
the boy's hands were by the cord ? They cannot 
reach out and get" the sorely needed food stored in 
the hard earth. They can feed and grow apace only 
when they are provided with a deep, warm, moist, 
mellow seed bed. 

Is not the plowman shown in Fig. 136 preparing 
a seed bed that will tie the roots of his corn and 

175 



176 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



starve the plants ? Can one lean mule furnish power 
enough to break a seed bed for corn? Is the plow 
set to go deep in the ground ? Could you reasonably 
expect plants to grow among the clods he is turning 
up ? Moisture is always needed. Could you depend 




"^T*?^!^^ 



^:^MSf. 




Ftg. 136. Plowing that will tik thk Roots 



on his shallow furrows to hold moisture? Would 
such plowing let air into the soil to any depth? Is 
not the plowman stirring only soil that was stirred 
the year before ? Will this add any fresh pasturage 
for the roots? Look at the tiny corn roots illus- 
trated in Fig. 137. They are so tender that a touch 
of your finger will break them. Yet they must push 
their way down into the soil or the plant will starve. 



THE THIRD STEP IN CULTIVATION 



177 




Fig. 137. Tiny Corn Roots 



Can these soft, threadlike roots force themselves 
into hard earth? The roots of thrifty plants must 

grope about and find food 
in a wide feeding-ground. 
But how can they do this 
unless mellow soil opens 
for them ? The deeper they 
can go into the soil the 
more moisture they can 
reach and send up to the 
plant. Can they find mois- 
ture if they are stopped by 
hardpan three or four inches below the surface? 
What will happen to the plants in the hot summer 
days if these roots fail in their search for lower 
moisture when the top 
moisture has been all 
used? Then take a look at 
these tender roots after 
they have grown much 
older. You see them in 
Fig. 1 2,S as they are feed- 
ing the almost ripened 
stalk. How widely and 
how deeply they are searching for food to build up 
the ear! If hard, dry, barren ground stops this search, 
what must become of the ear? Surely the seed bed 
the man is making with his one-horse plow will not 
make a favorable feeding-ground for corn roots. 




178 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Now turn from this unpromising start in making 
a seed bed to the proper start shown in Fig. 139. 
Here you will find a field that was deeply plowed 
in the fall. Then, in Fig. 140, the spring disking is 
being done as soon as the land is fit. The disk 
harrow is going about three inches deep. The third 




Fig. 139. Fall Plowing 



picture (Fig. 141) shows the smoothing harrow at 
once following the disk. Then, at least two weeks 
after the harrowing, the rows should be laid off. 

What sort of seed bed do you now have for the 
tender, wide-feeding roots? Did not the deep fall 
plowing enable the field to hold the winter rains 
and thus insure moisture for the corn ? Did not the 
plowing also permit air to make its way into the soil ? 
Did it not put the soil in condition to get the benefit 



THE THIRD STEP IN CULTIVATION 



179 



of all winter frosting and freezing? Will not the 
seed bed be deep and soft for the roots to find easy 
traveling in their search for food? 

What do you gain by the spring disking? Does 
it not further pulverize the earth? Does it not cut 
up and hasten the changing into humus of any 
vegetable matter 
which may have 
been left on the 
land? Does it not 
check and destroy 
the hardy weeds 
of early spring? 
Will it not smooth 
and level the soil? 
Will not the set- 
tling of the land 
after the disking 

help the soil tubes in getting ready for their very 
necessary work of bringing up moisture ? 

In what way will the harrowing on the heels of 
the disk be a benefit? In the spring moisture rises 
rapidly from prepared land. Can you spare the 
moisture? Will not the harrowing stop any mois- 
ture loss by the top mulch of dry soil which it forms ? 
Will it not also add to the complete fining of the 
soil ? Will it not also assist in pressing the soil 
grains together so as to make easier the task of the 
soil tubes? Could you find many clods after these 




Fig, 140. Spring Disking 



l8o CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

three cultivations ? Would not such a seed bed soon 
be warmed by the sun and thus speed the perfect 
sprouting of your grain ? In case a heavy rain should 
fall after you had either disked or harrowed, would it 
not pay to run the harrow over the land again ? As 
an ambitious corn grower — one who wishes to make 




Fig. 141. Smoothing Harrow following a Disk 

a crop of corn in which he may find a just reward 
for his labor — are you not willing to prepare such 
a seed bed ? 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. What harm results from clods in the seed bed ? 

2. What does a corn grower gain by harrowing his land after 
each rain ? 

3. In case you disk your land with a horse disk and not a 
tractor, should the harrow which follows the disk run in the same 
direction that the disk ran or in an opposite direction ? 



THE THIRD STEP IN CULTIVATION t8i 

4. Why should the smoothing harrow follow and not go ahead 
of the disk harrow ? 

5. A thoughtful farmer always wants a warm seed bed. Would 
drainage increase the warmth ? Would cultivating add to the 
warmth? Would the addition of vegetable matter increase the 
warmth ? 

6. Do you understand what is meant by " lapping " with the 
disk harrow ? Why does a farmer often '^ lap " when it is slower 
than not " lapping " ? 



CHAPTER XV 

THE FOURTH STEP IN CULTIVATION — PLANTING 

Spring brings the task of transferring your 
selected seed from its protected storehouse to the 
warm, moist, mellow seed bed. Then you can only 
wait for what has been called the " yearly miracle 
of spring " — the changing of the cold, hard seeds 
into living plants. Every really thoughtful corn- 
grower is eager to know how he and nature may 
work hand in hand to produce a bounteous crop. 

If you wish to work with nature you must be 
ready to plant as soon as nature warms the soil. 
You no doubt recall that it takes air, light, moisture, 
and warmth to germinate seed. Of course, the soil 
has air, light, and moisture all during the winter, but 
sufficient warmth to sprout corn comes only with 
the spring. You should, therefore, have everything 
in readiness to plant your seed corn as soon as the 
necessary heat is added to air, light, and moisture. 
The Indians, who always watched nature, followed this 
rule : " Plant corn when the leaves of the white-oak 
tree are as big as a squirrel's ear." As the leaves 
of the white oak come earlier in Southern than in 
Northern sections, was not this just their way of say- 
ing, " Plant when the earth gets warm " ? The more 



THE FOURTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 183 

often the grower gets his corn planted as soon as 
his seed bed is warmed, the more often he harvests 
a heavy yield. 

Heat enough for planting comes early in Southern 
climates. Thence, as the warmth of spring moves 
northward, the time of planting goes with it. The 




Fig. 142. Single-Row Planter 

time for seeding, therefore, cannot be fixed by the 
almanac, but must depend on the arrival of suffi- 
cient heat. There is no use planting corn in cold, 
damp ground. You get a new idea of how widely 
corn is grown in America by remembering the 
length of time which is needed for this spring 
warmth to move across the corn-growing sections. 
The seed beds of Texas, the southern limit of our 
country, are warmed three months before those 
of Minnesota, which state is on the line of our 



1 84 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



northern boundary. Beginning in Texas, farmers 
start, section by section, thousands upon thousands 
of corn planters to dropping their seed, and yet 
three months must pass before all sections have 
finished the immense task. While this is true, 
however, it will interest you to know about what 
time the soil is usually warm enough to plant in the 
various states. The following table, prepared by 
Bishop, shows the average dates of planting and 
of harvesting and the length of the growing-season. 



RATE OF NORTHWARD CORN-PLANTING MOVEMENT 





Planting-Date 


Hakvesting-Date 


Gkuwinc; 


Period 


State 


Beginning 


Ending 


Beginning 


Ending 


Days from 
Beginningof 

Planting to 
Beginningof 

Harvesting 


Days from 
Ending of 
Planting to 
Average of 
Harvesting 


Florida . . . 


Feb. 2 1 


Apr. 2 


Aug. 23 


Oct. 17 


183 


198 


Texas . . . 


Feb. 27 


Apr. 4 


Sept. 6 


Nov. 18 


191 


228 


Louisiana . . 


Feb. 27 


Apr. 24 


Sept. I 


Nov. 4 


186 


194 


Arkansas . . 


Mar. 18 


May 6 


Sept. 23 


Nov. 4 


189 


182 


Oklahoma. . 


Mar. 24 


Apr. 30 


Sept. 14 


Dec. 9 


174 


223 


Kansas . . . 


Apr. 14 


May 18 


Oct. II 


Dec. 16 


180 


212 


Missouri . . 


Apr. 14 


May 22 


Sept. 23 


Dec. 16 


162 


208 


Illinois . . . 


Apr. 30 


June 2 


Sept. 26 


Dec. 10 


149 


191 


Nebraska . . 


May 3 


May 29 


Sept. 23 


Dec. 19 


153 


204 


Iowa. . . . 


May 4 


May 26 


Oct. 19 


Dec. 6 


163 


194 


S. Dakota . . 


May 9 


June I 


Oct. 12 


Nov. 29 


157 


T7I 


Wisconsin . 


May II 


May 28 


Sept. 9 


Sept. 28 


121 


!-.> 


Minnesota . 


May 13 


May 30 


Sept. 9 


Sept. 28 


119 


121 


N.Dakota. . 


May 14 


May 31 


Sept. 8 


Sept. 23 


117 


120 


Michigan . . 


May 15 


June 2 


Sept. 10 


Sept. 29 


iiS 


119 


Maine . . . 


May 17 


June 6 


Sept. 12 


Sept. 30 


118 


116 



THE FOURTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 185 



The map given in Fig. 143 groups the states and 
their dates of planting in the largest corn-growing 
sections. 

As you see from the table the warm states have 
a much longer period in which to plant corn than 
do the colder states. In Alabama corn may be 
seeded for about 
two months, while 
in Wisconsin or 
North Dakota if 
you delay plant- 
ing for seven- 
teen days after the 
ground is warm 
enough to plant, 
your corn will 
most probably be 
killed by frost. In 
the Cotton Belt 
there are on an 

average about fifty-three days, after the date of be- 
ginning, in which you may plant without fear of 
losing your harvest. In the winter- wheat states, like 
Kansas and Nebraska, the time in which you may 
plant is limited to about thirty-three days. In the 
spring- wheat states, like the Dakotas and Minne- 
sota, the time is decreased to nineteen days. This 
length of planting-time gives, in the Southern states, 
an opportunity to plant corn after the winter legumes 




Fig. 143. Dates for Seeding 



i86 



CORN 1500K FOR YOUNG FOLK 



and other crops, like rye and Irish potatoes, and 
consequently a farmer may plan a wider rotation of 
crops than he can in colder states. 

With the time of planting fixed by nature there 
comes the thought of the best method of planting. 




Fig. 144. D()ublp:-Ro\v Planter 

Will nature's laws guide you in deciding how to 
plant? If you are to plant in a section where 
there is too much moisture and no way to drain it 
off, should not your manner of planting be deter- 
mined by this fact ? On the other hand, if you 
are to use for your corn a well-drained soil lying in 
a region of average rainfall, should you not plan to 
plant in accord with these conditions ? Lastly, if you 
are to seed your corn either in coarse sandy or 



THE FOURTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 187 

gravelly soil in which water sinks rapidly, or in a 
region of small rainfall, would you not keep these 
conditions in mind? 

Let us think how we may work with nature in 
the three cases which we have just been considering. 




Fig. 145. Raised Seed Beds for Wet Lands 

First, take thought to the wet lands. In the South, 
especially, there are large bodies of low-lying wet 
lands. These lands are so level as to forbid natural 
drainage. How can you raise corn in such lands .f* 
Evidently, since you cannot drain off the water, 
you will have to raise your seed beds and let the 
extra water sink below the corn roots. Water in a 
corn row, as well as everywhere else, will seek the 
lowest level within its reach. If you raise rounded 
seed beds and plant your corn on the top of these 



1 88 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

ridged beds, will you not leave a low furrow be- 
tween each of these long beds ? Will not the extra 
soil moisture in the bed drain down into these fur- 
rows and leave the roots a fairly dry seed bed? 
In case of heavy rains will not these water furrows, 
as they are called, carry off the rain before it can 
drown the young plants? Will not the rounded, 
raised bed furnish a larger surface to take in the 
sun's heat than a flat surface would? 

Hence, when nature supplies too much water, 
ridge the land, and thus get nature to help in 
draining it, and you can raise a good crop. 

Are there any reasons why this ridged method 
should not be used for other than wet lands ? There 
are several. In drained lands, which get just about 
sufficient moisture to raise a crop, would not this 
method waste water? If, in this case, water drained 
away from the roots into the water furrow, would 
not the plants be badly injured in dry weather? 
Can you run a harrow or cultivator over such 
bedded rows as conveniently as you can on smooth 
lands ? If you cannot, will you not be forced to use 
the hoe to remove weeds in the row? Would this 
not take more labor and add to the expense ? 

Second, in case you have well-drained, finely 
grained land and a sufficient yearly rainfall, what 
method of planting is best suited to your soil? 
With this sort of soil and with this amount of 
moisture will you have to make raised beds in order 



THE FOURTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 189 

to drain water away from your plant roots ? Will you, 
on the other hand, have to plant deep under the 
surface in order that the plant roots may find mois- 
ture? Since you are so fortunate as to farm on 
land with neither too much nor too little moisture, 
will not your natural plan be to seed the land just 
as it was left by the last harrowing? This method 
of planting is called surface planting, or flat plant- 
ing. Would not ridging such a soil lead to drawing 
moisture from the roots ? Would not planting such 
land very deeply perhaps lead to poor sprouting and 
certainly be needless trouble ? 

In surface planting two methods are common : 
one of these is the check-row method, the other the 
drill-row method. 

In the check-row system the land is laid off in 
straight rows crossing the field in opposite direc- 
tions. Such a field is shown in Fig. 146. The ker- 
nels are planted only at the points where the rows 
cross. Usually from two to three seed kernels are 
dropped at each of the crossing points, or hills. WHiat 
are the special merits of this widely used method of 
planting ? With this method of checks could you 
not run your tillage tools in the same direction in 
which your planter dropped the seed, and then run 
them across the field in an opposite direction? Would 
this not enable you to cultivate on all sides of your 
plants without hoeing? Would this not lessen the 
cost of production ? 



190 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Could this method be used on all kinds of land ? 
Could you use it without too great cost on small, 
irregular fields ? Could you use it on terraced lands? 
Could you lay off hilly or sloping lands in checks? 
If you did, would there not be danger of washing? 




Fig. 146. A Check-Rowed Field 



Is it not probable that one plant standing alone in 
a furrow twelve inches from another plant can find 
food and moisture more easily than three plants 
standing in one hill three feet from other hills ? 

In the drill-row method the seed is planted in 
straight rows without checking. The planter usually 
drops one kernel to a hill, and the hills are much 
closer to one another than in the check-row method. 



THE FOURTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 



191 



What are the advantages of this system? Can 
you not use this method on either flat or hilly land ? 
Can you not run your rows around the hills and 
thus save washing? Can you not, in like manner, 
run your rows wdth your terraces on broken land? 

Does not this drill- . 

row plan provide 
more space for 
each stalk and pre- 
vent root crowd- 



ing 



? Will not a 




.MmMiMLi^ 



Fig. 147. Flat Preparation for Planting 



plant standing en- 
tirely alone find a 
greater pasturage 
of moisture and 
plant food than 
threeplants stand- 
ing in a hill ? On 
the other hand, 
will it not be harder 

to keep down weeds and grass with tillage tools by 
this method, since you can run them only one way? 
Hence, for flat lands will the check-row^ plan not be 
cheaper than the drill-row method ? 

Third, where land is so gravelly or so sandy that 
water sinks rapidly into the soil, or in dry regions, 
what is the best method of planting? In these 
cases do you not need to work with nature and plant 
your corn where it can most easily reach moisture ? 



192 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

Will you not have to plant deeper than you do in 
surface planting ? The method by which this is done 
is known as listing. In those parts of the South and 
Southwest in which very light soils are found, and 
in all the limited-rainfall area west of the main Corn 
Belt, this method is in very general use. Where the 




Fig. 148. Simple Lister, or "Middle Buster" 

land is loose and friable and where there is not much 
vegetable matter in the soil, listing is the cheapest 
method of planting, for such land can be listed and 
planted without any other preparation. If, however, 
the land is at all stiff or if there are many weeds 
and much grass on the surface, the land should be 
disked or harrowed some days before it is listed. 

Listing is mainly done in three ways : First, by a 
simple lister, or " middle buster," as it is often called. 
The simple lister is shown in Fig. 148. As you see. 



THE FOURTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 193 

it is merely a plow with a double moldboard. One 
moldboard throws the earth to the right in a low 
ridge; the other throws the soil to the left in the 
same manner. A planter follows in the furrow made 
by the lister and drops and covers the kernels. The 
depth secured in this way enables the kernels to 
obtain the needed moisture. When corn is listed only 
about one third of the land is touched by the two tools. 




Fig. 149. Lister with Additions 

Second, by a lister with several additions to it. 
These additions are clearly pictured in Fig. 149. 
The first is a subsoil stirrer, which is fastened just 
behind the lister and runs in the same furrow. This 
loosens the bottom of the furrow and makes it the 
seed bed. The seed dropper is attached behind the 
subsoiler, and back of the dropper are the coverers. 
With this instrument one man with three heavy 
horses can plant seven acres a day. 

Third, by a combined planter and lister, as shown 
in Fig. 150. This is often called the furrow-opener 
method. The furrow opener is in front ; then follow 



X94 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



the teeth to loosen the soil and then the dropper and 
coverer. This method should be used only on well- 
prepared land. 

What are the merits of listing ? As this method, 
except in the last case, saves one or more workings 




Fig. 150. Combined Lister and Planter 



of the soil, will it not be the cheapest plan ? As the 
kernels are planted so deep that the corn roots can 
reach what moisture there is in the soil, should not 
corn so planted stand dry weather well ? Would not 
the plants mature on less water than they would in 
the other ways ? Would not the corn planted so deep 
in the soil grow slowly in the spring ? Would not 
the slow growth cause a less vig!"orous growth of 



vigorous 



THE FOURTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 



95 



blades and stalks? As the blades and stalks con- 
sume much moisture, would not this slow growth 
save moisture ? As the lister throws earth away from 
the roots, would it not throw the weed seeds in the 
earth away from the hills? Could the weeds, after they 
have sprouted in the middle of the rows, be killed 
there more easily 
than around the 
new plants? 

There are, how- 
ever, several ob- 
jections to the 
listing methods. 
Would this deep 
planting in cold 
soil make germi- 
nation more diffi- 
cult? In case of 

very hard rains, would there not be danger of 
drowning the low-set plants and of washing the 
seed furrow very badly? 

In all of the methods of planting corn the actual 
dropping of the seed kernels may be done in several 
ways. If only a small field, say eight or ten acres, is 
to be planted, hand dropping, as shown in Fig. 151, 
or a hand machine similar to the one in Fig. 152, is 
the cheapest plan. For large areas a one-row or a 
double-row planter is, of course, much cheaper than 
hand dropping. As already seen, the listers have 




Fig. 



Planting bv Hanu 



196 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



droppers attached. For planting in checks the check- 
row planter, shown in Fig. 153, is widely used. Before 
using any of these implements the kernels should 
be graded for uniform size and the planter carefully 
set. To secure kernels of about the same size would 
you not exclude the irregular kernels on the tips 

and butts of the ears? 
To keep from injuring 
the kernels by passing 
them through a sheller 
should you not shell your 
seed ears by hand, or use 
such a device as is illus- 
trated in Fig. 154? I snot 
thinning out the extra 
stalks a costly custom ? 
Will it not, therefore, 
save time and money to 
drop only as many kernels as you want stalks? Can 
you not count on the germination of good seed? 

Before you set your planter you will of course 
have to determine three things: first, how wide 
apart to lay off your rows; second, how far from 
one another to make your hills in the rows ; third, 
how many kernels to plant in each hill. 

The experience of thoughtful growers is that, as 
a rule, the rows should be from three and a half to 
four feet apart. The distance, as we shall presently 
learn, should be less for rich lands than for poor lands. 




Fig. 152. A Hand Planter 




Fig. 153. Check-Row Planter 




Fig. 154. A Device to remove Kernels from Butts and Tips 



198 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

The distance of the stalks, or hills of stalks, from 
one another cannot be so readily fixed. Of course, 
well-tilled plants will thrive in proportion to the 
amount of plant food and moisture in the soil. If 
there is not much plant food or moisture for your 
plants, can you expect to grow a large number of 
heavily eared stalks? Would not the food and 
moisture have to be divided among all the stalks? 
If you lessened the number of stalks, would not 
each stalk get more nourishment ? Would not this 
smaller number of well-nourished stalks yield more 
well-filled ears than a larger number of badly nour- 
ished stalks? If you increased the number of stalks 
on poor land, would you not expect that the further 
division of food and moisture would force the stalks 
to bear a very abundant crop of nubbins ? 

If, on the other hand, the soil has a sufficiency of 
food and moisture to support a large number of 
stalks, should you not be sure to plant them ? Again, 
some varieties of corn have larger stalks than others. 
The large stalks require more food and moisture for 
proper fruitage than do the smaller stalks. Could 
you not, therefore, plant more stalks of a small 
variety on an acre than you could of a large variety ? 
Do you not then see that the thickness of your plant- 
ing must be governed by the fertility of the land, by 
the amount of moisture, and by the variety seeded ? 

In the check-row method, kernels are dropped 
only where the rows cross. At what distance shall 



THE FOURTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 



199 



these check rows cross ? Must not the rows be wide 
enough apart for a horse and a cultivator to pass 
each way ? Could the rows, then, no matter how rich 
the land, be less than three feet apart? If the land 
be very poor, would even five feet be too wide ? The 




Fig. 155. Rich Land may be thickly planted 



general opinion of the users of this method is that 
a distance of from three and a half to four feet is 
most satisfactory. 

How many kernels should be dropped in each 
hill ? Do not forget the guiding rule, " The richer 
the land the thicker the seeding; the poorer the 
land the thinner the seeding." In the great Corn 
Belt three kernels to the hill seems best for fertile 



200 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

land. If the land is unusually rich, four may be 
planted. In the South, since the corn grows con- 
siderably larger than in the main Corn Belt, only 
two kernels should be seeded to each check. In the 
North, where flint corns are grown, the small stalks 
and ears of that type enable you to plant four or five 
kernels to the hill. 

In the raised-bed method, in the drill-row method, 
or in the listing method of planting, a distance be- 
tween the rows of three feet for rich land and of 
three and a half to four feet for average land is the 
usual rule. In these methods, of course, the kernels 
are not dropped in checked hills. They are dropped 
singly in the row, or they are planted by twos, by 
threes, or by fours. In regions of sufficient moisture 
the highest yields on equally fertile lands seem to be 
obtained when the stalks stand singly and at a dis- 
tance from one another of from twelve to fourteen 
inches. In the dry regions the plants should stand 
singly, but the distance apart should be increased. 
The stalks should stand at least eighteen inches 
apart in comparatively dry land and about thirty-six 
inches in very dry and poor land. 

The problem of spacing having been settled, you 
have next to consider the depth of planting. Are 
not light and air generally present in the soil ? Will 
not warmth and the proper amount of moisture, 
therefore, be the two things to think of in planting ? 
What will happen to the seed if there is too much 



THE FOURTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 20 1 

moisture ? What if there is too Httle ? What if there 
is no warmth? In the early spring is the earth 
warm to any great depth ? Would it not be foolish 
to plant deeper than the earth is warmed ? Hence, 
would you not avoid deep planting at that time ? As 
spring advances can you plant deeper? Since corn 









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Fig. 156. WiDF. Rows suit Poor Land 

roots are near the surface, will you ever need to plant 
very deep ? If the earth is warm and dry would you 
plant deeper than if the earth were warm and moist? 
In planting will you not also have to think how 
different soils hold water? You know how moisture 
sinks in sandy soils. To secure moisture for your 
seeds in such land would you plant deep or shallow? 
On stiff clay land what would be the danger in deep 
planting? As a rule, farmers plant their corn too deep. 
From one to two inches is generally deep enough. 



202 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

APPLYING THE LESSON 

1. A corn-grower from Louisiana moved to the drained lands 
of Illinois. According to his custom he raised his rows for corn. 
What difference in conditions did he forget ? 

2. A boy who was reared in Eastern Kansas went to farming 
in Western Kansas. As the untidy looks of fields planted by the 
lister method displeased him, he planted with a check-rower. Would 
you expect his corn to bear heavily ? 

3. " I always begin to plant corn on the 12th of March/' said 
a farmer. Is this a wise rule ? 

4. A poor thinker had two fields to plant. One was very sandy, 
the other a heavy loam. The man did not want to change his 
planter, so he planted both fields one inch deep. On which would 
he be most likely to get the better stand .'' 

5. A man, growing impatient over a late spring, plowed early, 
planted early, planted deep. What would you expect to find on 
visiting his farm in May ? 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. Does every cornstalk require the same amount of water ? 
If not, state the conditions under which it will need more or less 
rain. Would a two-inch rain in Florida, in July, do a cornfield more 
good than a one-inch rainfall in central Illinois at the same time ? 

2. Should silage corn ever be planted in checks ? 

3. Why would the check-row method of planting corn not suit 
the Appalachian section ? Why would the lister method be unwise 
in most of Tennessee ? 

4. In what way does a very heavy rain sometimes keep corn 
from germinating ? On what sort of soil would this be most likely 
to happen ? Can you think of many more important things in 
farming than the proper control of moisture? - - 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE FIFTH STEP IN CULTIVATION — TENDING 
THE CROP 

After corn seed is planted is there any need of 
cultivation before the tiny shoots push their way 




Fig. 157. A Weeder 



out of the soil? Often in a newly planted field 
weeds spring up ahead of the corn. If these weeds 
are allowed to grow, will they not be harder to kill 

203 



204 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 




later on ? Will not these weeds also use much plant 
food ? Can the corn spare the moisture which the 
weeds are drawing from the soil ? Will they not 
decrease the yield of corn by whatever amount of 
plant food and moisture they steal? Should they 
not be killed at once? 

Can you kill these young weeds without injury to 
the sprouting corn ? On light and level lands this 
can easily be done by running a weeder, similar to 

the one illustrated 
in Fig. 157, across 
the rows. On un- 
even and heavy 
lands it will be bet- 
ter to use a spike- 
tooth harrow like 
the one in Fig. 158. The teeth of the harrow should 
be set to slant backwards so as not to drag the 
young corn sprouts out of the seed bed. If either 
of these is run across the rows, it will destroy the 
weeds without harming the corn. If it is preferred, 
a cultivator may be used to kill the weeds. This 
implement, if used, should be run with the rows 
and not across them. If the crop is full of weeds, 
the cultural implements may be used several times. 
However, just as the corn is shooting out of the 
ground and is very tender, cultivation with the 
weeder or harrow should stop for a while. It can 
then be started again and kept up until the corn is 



Fig. 158. A Spike-Tooth Harrow 



THE FIFTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 205 

three or four inches tall. These early cultivations 
will not only destroy weeds but they will keep the 
ground from packing and thus save moisture and 
will also give the plants a vigorous start. If corn- 
stalks or rubbish have been turned under and remain 
unrotted in the seed beds, neither a weeder nor a 




Fig. 159. A Lister Cultivator 

harrow can be used. From the time the corn appears 
above the ground its growth should never be checked. 
On listed land an implement known as the lister 
cultivator is coming into favor. It takes the place 
of the weeder or harrow in the earlier cultivations 
of corn planted by this method. Such a cultivator 
is shown in Fig. 159. On many farms this cultivator 
is not used until the lister ridges are somewhat 
leveled by one harrowing. At the first working of 
the corn by this tool the disks are set to throw the 
earth away from the corn. Fenders are provided to 



206 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



keep the dirt from covering the plants. The earth, 
on striking these fenders, crumbles and sifts around 
the plants without bruising or burying them. At 
the second cultivation the disks are set wider apart 
and throw the earth toward the plants. Two culti- 
vations usually put the soil in good condition and 
leave it level for the regular cultivators. 

As soon as the 
plants are from 
three to five inches 
high you should 
start your cultiva- 
tors. There are 
many kinds of cul- 
tivators, varying 
in style from the 
one-row walking 
cultivator with two shovels, shown in Fig. i6o, to the 
large two-row riding cultivator, similar to the one 
in Fig. 1 6 1. The number of shovels attached to 
the cultivator varies from two to eight. The size 
of the shovels is usually smaller as the number 
grows larger. In some (see Fig. 162) disks take the 
place of shovels. In others, especially those made 
for later and shallow cultivation, long blades are 
used instead of shovels or disks. Still others have 
spring-tooth attachments. 

What shall govern you in a choice of cultivators ? 
In case your land is sloping or very uneven, can you 




Fig. 160, Cultivator with two Shovels 




Fig. i6i. Two-Row Cll 



nXAiuK 




Fig. 162. A Disk Cultivator 



208 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



use a two-row cultivator conveniently? In case 
your land is rather hard and packs easily, could you 
readily use small shovels? If weeds are tall and 
coarse, will you not have to select a cultivator with 
large shovels? When your land is in poor condition 




Fig. 163. Cultivator with Small Shovels 



and needs fining, would not a disk cultivator be 
most successful? On stony land what would be 
gained by having a spring-tooth cultivator? In 
mellow lands, either sandy or full of humus, would 
not small shovels be most useful? On level lands 
would not a two-row cultivator save much time? 
Considering these changing conditions, shall you not 
select a cultivator to meet the needs of your farm ? 



THE FIFTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 209 

Whatever kind of cultivator you select should 
be put to work when the corn is from three to five 
inches tall. Unless you allow weeds to grow too 
long, no other cultivating tool should be necessary. 
However, after your corn grows tall, will not 
a single-row cultivator, like the one in Fig. 164, 
have to take the place of the two-row cultivator.? 




Fig. 164. A Single-Row Cultivator 

How deep in the soil must your cultivator run ? Let 
us again turn to nature for an answer. Look at the 
roots of the corn plant shown in Fig. 165. This plant 
is only twenty-one days old. Then examine the root 
system of the ninety-day-old plant in Fig. 166. Will 
not the size and fullness of the ear depend on the 
amount of moisture and food the plant gets from 
these roots ? If your cultivator goes deep enough to 
bruise, tear, or break these roots, can they properly 
nourish the stalk ? Will shallow or deep cultivation 



2IO 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



disturb these roots least ? Is it not clear that your 
cultivating tools should not go crashing through 
these tender feeders of the plant? As the roots 
spread more and more with age should not your cul- 
tivations be less and less deep ? Would it not be well 

to set the blades 
next to the corn 
more shallow than 
those working in 
the middle of the 
rows? Could the 
first cultivation be 
deeper than any 
of the others with- 
out injury to the 
plant? For the 
last one or two cul- 
tivations, after the 
corn is well grown, would it not be wise to take 
the shovels off the cultivator and put on scrapers? 
Could such scrapers be used for every cultivation 
except the first one? 

Many farmers cultivate too deeply. Is there any 
good reason for this practice? To answer this im- 
portant question we shall have to ask another; 
namely. What are the reasons for cultivating corn 
at all ? It now seems that the two main reasons for 
working the soil around corn plants are as follows : 
first, to kill the weeds that seek to divide moisture 




Fig. 165. Root System after Twenty- 
One Days' Growth 



THE FIFTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 



211 



and plant food with the corn; second, to save all 
possible moisture for the ever thirsty corn plants. 

Do either of these reasons demand deep cultiva- 
tion? Evidently, unless you allow the weeds too 
much start, you can kill them with a shallow-running 
tool. The only way to 
save moisture in the 
spring and summer is 
to keep a dry mulch 
on the top of the soil. 
You can always do 
this with a shallow tool. 
Therefore, is there any 
reason for injuring the 
corn roots by useless 
deep cultivation? After 
the first cultivation the 
depth should decrease 
regularly from two or 
three inches to about 
one and a half inches for 
the later cultivations. 

Many experiments have been made in different 
states to decide how often corn should be culti- 
vated. Fields of corn have been cultivated from 
one to fourteen times to find out what number of 
cultivations brings about the largest yield. Will 
a study of nature's ways help to decide this vexed 
question ? 




Fig. 1 66. Root System after 
Ninety Days' Growth 



212 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

You have noticed how clay lands and other stiff 
lands pack after a hard rain and form a crust on 
top of the soil. As soon as land packs in this way, 
do not the soil tubes which carry moisture to the 
surface form roads through which moisture escapes 
into the air? Can you afford to allow this moisture 
to be lost to your corn ? What effect would running 
the cultivator have in preventing this loss ? Would 
the cultivator not break up the soil tubes? Would 
not the mulch formed by the cultivator keep the 
moisture where the roots need it? Shall we not, 
then, make it a rule to cultivate such lands after 
every hard rain? Would loose, mellow soils pack 
in the same way ? To save moisture will these loose 
soils need to be cultivated as often as the stiff soils? 

Again, if lands pack and form a hard crust, what 
will happen when sorely needed showers fall ? Will 
the water be able to sink down to the plant roots or 
will it run off almost as it would from a floor? If 
the land were loosened by a cultivator would the 
rain be thus lost? Then must we not cultivate 
often enough to keep the soil from so packing that 
the rain will be lost to the plant roots ? 

Of course no weeds or grass should be allowed 
to grow in the cornfield. We shall have, therefore, 
to cultivate as many times as is necessary to destroy 
weeds or grass; and in loose, mellow soils, which 
are not likely to pack, this is the main reason for 
cultivating. Such soils usually have sufficient warmth 



THE FIFTH STEP IN CULTIVATION 213 

and air. They take in water well, and soil tubes 
are not readily formed. Hence such soils do not 
need as frequent cultivation as the stiff ones. 

Since these are the reasons for cultivation, will it 
not follow that cultivation is needed more frequently 
when the corn is young than it is after the corn is 
older? After the corn spreads its leaves over the 
rows, weeds do not grow so readily and there is not 
so great a loss of soil moisture. We must, however, 
bear in mind that the tasseling and silking time is 
always a trying time for corn. At that period light 
cultivation may save the moisture that is invaluable 
to a good harvest. 

In cultivating your corn three thoughts should 
be uppermost : first, to make a bounteous yield ; 
second, to do this at the smallest cost; third, to 
save all possible drudgery. 

Good practical machines will enable you to do 
these three things. Hence, if you have to start with 
few machines, save in every way until you can 
supply your farm with excellent cultivating tools 
and implements. 

APPLYING THE LESSON 

1. A corn-grower sat on his fence and kept crying to his plow- 
men, who were cultivating waist-high corn, " Stick those plows in 
the ground." What do you think of his order? 

2. In case a long wet spell stops your cultivation and gives 
weeds and grass such a growth that it is necessary to clear the 
crop with a plow, how would you set the plow ? 



214 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

3. A plowman who cultivated his surface-planted corn as deeply 
as his listed corn gathered more corn from his listed acres. He 
therefore decided that the listing method was the better. Did his 
experience prove that listing is the best method ? 

4. A farmer who had rich, mellow land, full of humus, bought 
a disk cultivator. Did he make a wise selection ? 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. Corn will germinate sooner and more regularly if the seed bed 
in which it is planted is harrowed. Can you tell why this is true ? 

2. Why is a spike-tooth harrow better than a weeder for the 
first cultivation of stiff lands ? 

3. Is it well to have any fixed date on which to stop cultivating 
corn? 

4. Why is it generally important to cultivate upland corn in the 
South to a later period of growth than it is in the Northern states.'* 

5. Why can the first tilling with the cultivator be deeper than 
the later ones ? 



CHAPTER XVII 



HARVESTING THE CROP 

With the last cultivation of corn your labor on 
that crop ceases until harvest. If, however, you 
live in a climate in 
which summer le- 
gumes thrive, you 
should plant peas 
or beans in your 
corn. The corn, 
of course, drew ni- 
trogen from the 
soil. Will not a 
leguminous crop 
restore the nitro- 
gen to the soil by 
drawing a supply 
from the air? Will 
not such a crop 
furnish food for 
man and beast in 

case you cut it ? Will it not add humus to the soil 
if you turn it under? A stirring farmer who knows 
that his success depends on keeping his land busy 

and fertile will plant as many legumes as possible. 

215 




Fig. 167. Sov Beans sown at Last 
Cultivation 



2l6 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



At what time shall you begin to harvest corn? 
The first illustration in this book shows in how 
many different states corn is grown. As many of 
these states differ in climate, and hence in the 
length of the growing-season, would you not expect 
corn to ripen at different times in these states? 

__^^^ M ust we not note, 

first, that the time 
of harvesting va- 
ries with the cli- 
mate ? As you 
know, there are 
early and late 
kinds of corn, 
and therefore the 
time of harvest- 
ing varies, second, 
with the variety 
planted. Note in 
Fig. 169 how marked is this difference. The center 
rows are ripe; the outer ones are still growing. If 
a field of corn has been well cultivated and freely 
fed, would it be likely to ripen earlier or later 
than a neighboring field which had been neglected 
and starved? Hence, does not the time of harvest- 
ing vary, third, with the care which has been given 
the crop ? Again, would you think that moist bot- 
tom lands would ripen their crops as soon as dry 
uplands? Therefore, fourth, the time of harvesting 




Fig. 168. Crimson Clover after Corn 



HARVESTING THE CROP 217 

varies with the moisture in the land. Moreover, 
will not the date of beginning vary, fifth, with 
your plans for harvesting and with the purpose 
for which you harvest your crop ? If you are going 
to use the stalks for silage, will you not harvest 
earlier than if you are to save only the ears? 



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Fig. 169. VARiETit- 



ii\u Ai iJithhivi-.M Times 



Can we, then, with so many changing conditions 
fix any set date for harvest time? Evidently, no 
more than we can for planting-time. However, we 
can fix a period. We should harvest at such time 
as will give the greatest amount of good food in the 
ear, when we are to use the ears alone, or at such a 
time as will give the greatest amount of good food 
in ear and stalk, if we wish to harvest both. When 
will this be ? 



2l8 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



If you are to use the corn for silage, it should be 
cut when the stalk has its greatest weight. This 
will be when the ear is in the hard-dough, or glazed, 
state. The kernels at this time will be just begin- 
ning to dent. If the corn is to be eaten by hogs in 




Fig. 170. Harvesting by Means of Hogs 



the field, the ears should be allowed to become ripe 
before the hogs are turned into the field. When 
the corn is to be harvested for the ears and stover 
both, it should be allowed to stand until the kernels 
are rather deeply dented, the husks are dry and 
brown, and before many of the leaves below the ear 
have turned brown. When the corn is to be har- 
vested for ears alone the longer it can stand in the 



HARVESTING THE CROP 



219 



field without being injured by rain, frost, and cold 
the richer the ears will be in food. 

There are six ways of harvesting corn : first, har- 
vesting by means of hogs; second, harvesting for 
silage ; third, harvesting by stripping the leaves for 
fodder and later gathering the corn ; fourth, harvest- 
ing by cutting the tops above the ears for fodder 
and later gathering 
the corn ; fifth, har- 
vesting at one time 
for both ears and 
stover; sixth, harvest- 
ing for ears alone, and 
allowing animals to 
eat what they will of 
leaves and stalks. 

First, " hogging," as 
it is called, is common 
in many sections. Farmers who have many hogs 
turn them into the cornfields to fatten. It is usual 
to plant some other crops, like rape, rye, pumpkins, 
peas, or beans, with the corn. The hogs generally 
strip the fields clean. 

Second, with the increase in dairying, silos are 
beginning to be very common, and a much greater 
area is every year being planted in corn for these 
silos. As corn has been raised for silage in only 
comparatively recent years, this subject will be 
treated in the next chapter. 



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Fig. 171, 



Harvesting both Ears 
AND Stalks 



220 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Third, in the Southern Corn Belt the practice of 
stripping the corn leaves for forage and gathering 
the ears at a later time is very common. As is 
shown in Fig. 173, the leaves, after being stripped, 
are tied to the stalks to dry. After they are dry 
they are bound in bundles and stored for forage. 




Fig. I 72. Rape in Corn 



Is this a good practice ? Would it not be wiser 
to let the blades remain until the corn is ripe, and 
then cut the entire stalk ? Eight experiment stations 
in different states have tested the effect on yield 
which results from stripping the leaves from the 
growing plant. Each of these stations took a field 
that was uniform in soil and richness. They broke the 
land in the same way, planted it with the same sort of 



HARVESTING THE CROP 



221 




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seed, and cultivated it in the same way. The entire 
field was fertilized with the same kind of fertilizer. 
At the proper time half of the stalks were stripped 
of their leaves. The leaves on the other half were 
allowed to ripen with the ears. Then the yield from 
the stripped stalks and the yield from the unstripped 
stalks was accurately 
weighed. It was found 
that the yield of the 
stripped stalks was at 
least three bushels 
less than the yield 
from the unstripped 
stalks. On some of 
the fields there was 
even a greater loss 
from stripping. In 
Chapter V, p. 54, you 

learned that the leaves may be called the factory 
of a plant. In the leaves the food from the roots 
and the food from the air unite to form the food 
which is needed by all parts of the plant. This food 
is greatly needed in ripening the ear. If the leaves 
are stripped from the corn plant before its growth 
is finished, how can they form this food for the ear? 
Is not the ear more valuable than the fodder? Shall 
we not, then, conclude that " fodder pulling " is not 
only hot and disagreeable work but also that it too 
greatly decreases the yield for us to follow it ? 



I'mm: 




Fig. 173. Stripping Blades before 
Harvesting Corn 



222 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

Fourth, harvesting by cutting the tops above the 
ears and then gathering the ears later is also a costly 
method. This " topping," as it is called (see Fig. 1 74), 
injures the plant in the same way that the stripping 




Fig. 174. Cutting Tops and stripping Blades 

of the leaves does, and considerably lessens the yield. 
It is a practice that should always be avoided. 

Fifth, harvesting for both ears and stalk (stover) 
at the same time is far more usual than it was 
formerly. The improvement in machines for cut- 
ting the stalks and the increasing need for forage 
have led farmers in many sections to adopt this 
method. When you harvest in this manner you 
save leaves, stalk, shucks, and ears. If you harvest 



HARVESTING THE CROP 223 

too late, your stover will lose in value. Hence, will 
you not have to watch for a time least hurtful to ear 
and to stalk? 

This time is found when the kernels are fairly 
dented and the husks and the lowest leaves are dry. 
Be sure to be ready to begin cutting as soon as this 



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Fig. 175. Knives for cutting Corn 

period is reached. Stalks left standing for two weeks 
after this stage is reached lose about one half of 
their feedins: value. After the stover is shocked it 
should not be left too long in the field. 
There are three methods of cutting corn : 
First, on small farms or in sections where the 
stalks are very large and heavy, it is usually cut by 
hand. For hand cutting, sharpened hoes with short 
handles or corn knives similar to those shown in 
Fig. 175 are used. To save walking, the cutters 
should follow the plan shown in Fig. 176. Let the 



224 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



cutter begin at the center of the square of eight 
rows. At this center, marked 0, he ties four stalks 
together to serve as a support for the shock. He 
then cuts stalk i and follows the numbers until he 
has cut stalk 8. These eight stalks are then carried 

to the center, and 
the shock is be- 
gun. The cutter 
then cuts stalk g 
and follows the 
numbers to i6, 
when the second 
addition is made 
to the shock. He 
continues to fol- 
low the numbers 
until he reaches 
6o. As you see, 
this method saves 
much w^alking. 
Second, much corn is still cut by what is known 
as a corn-sled. The first form, a rude implement, 
was simply a sled with a knife in front for cutting 
one row at a time. Then a blade was put on each 
side of the sled, and two men and two horses cut 
two rows at a time. The labor for both horses and 
men was very wearying. The men, mounted on the 
sled, had to draw the corn against the blades and 
hold it until an armful w^as secured. Finally, wheels 



36 

37 


35 

38 


34 
39 


33 


28 


27 
26 
25 


58 
59 
60 


57 
56 
55 
54 


30 


29 


3 
4 


2 
5 
6 


1 

8 

7 


31 32 


^ 
^ 


23 
24 
17 


22 
21 

18 


40 
41 
42 
43 


20 
19 


46 
45 

44 


9 
10 
11 


16 15 


13 


14 


53 

48 


52 
49 


51 

50 


12 


47 



Fig. 176. 



Save Steps by following 
THIS Diagram 



HARVESTING THE CROP 



225 



were added and a more comfortable machine made. 
The improved corn-sled is shown in Fig. 177. 

Third, where corn is largely grown and the land 
is level enough, a corn-binder and harvester is used. 
This machine is shown in Fig. 178. It cuts and 
binds the stalks into bundles. Then the bundles 
are gathered and shocked by hand. 




Fig. I 'j^. Corn-Sled with Knives 



So far as preserving your corn is concerned, will 
it make any difference in which of these ways you 
cut it? Will not the way in which you shock it, 
however, make a great difference ? There are some 
things we must not forget in shocking our corn. 

First, the shocks should, of course, be so set up 
as to keep out rain. 

Second, the shocks should be so carefully set up 
that they will not fall or be easily blown over. They 
may be set up around a frame, called a horse, 




Fig. 178. Corn-Binder 




Fig. 179. A Curn-Horse 




Fig. i8o. Device for tightening Shocks 



HARVESTING THE CROP 227 

which Is moved after the shock is finished and used 
for the next shock (see Fig. 179), or they may be 
grouped around several uncut stalks which are tied 
together. The shock should be securely tied near 
the top with binder twine. 

Third, after the shocks have dried for about ten 
days the shrinkage of the stover will loosen the 
binding. This should be promptly tightened, or the 
shocks may fall. The device shown in Fig. 180 is 
helpful in tying 
shocks tightly. 

Fourth, un- 
less the climate 
is dry and cool, 
do not make the shocks very large. Of course the 
larger the shock the larger amount of inside stover 
it will protect from the weather, but large shocks 
dry out slowly and hence are more likely to mold. 
Where small shocks are used they should be placed 
under shelter as soon as they are thoroughly dry. 

Fifth, try never to leave your shocks too long in 
the field. Much rain dissolves from the stover pala- 
table food of high feeding value. It also leaves the 
stover dry, brittle, and tasteless. 

Sixth, set your shocks in straight lines, like those 
in Fig. 181, and at a good distance from one another. 
On good farms, where rotation of crops is the rule, 
a fall crop is often to be planted on the corn land. 
Hence it is frequently necessary to plow almost as 



2 28 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



soon as the corn is shocked. If the shocks are in 
Hne and far apart, they will not greatly interfere 
with the plowing and seeding of fall crops. 

There are three common ways of handling the 
shocks after they are dry. One is to husk the corn 
at the shocks and haul it to the crib, and leave 




Fig. i8i. Set Shocks in Straight Rows 



the stover in piles for cattle. Another is to haul the 
shocked corn to the barn lot. There the ears are 
husked and stored, and the stover is either put in 
ricks at a convenient place for feeding, or is stored 
under a roof. In both of these ways the ears are 
husked by hand and the shucks are left on the 
stalk. Husking tools, similar to the ones in Fig. 182, 
are used to save the busker's hands. A still better 
way, where the cost is not too high, is to run the 



HARVESTING THE CROP 



229 



stover through a shredding machine. Such a machine 
is illustrated in Fig. 183. The shredder removes 




Fig. 182. Husking Devices 



and partly husks the ears and tears the coarse stalks 
to pieces for stock food or bedding. The shredded 
stover is blown by a forced draft into the barn. 




Fig. 183. HusKER and Shredder 

The sixth way of harvesting is to husk the ears 
from the standing stalks. In this method only the 
ears are hauled to the place of storage. The stalks 



2.^0 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



are left standing and must be cut in the winter or 
spring. Unless labor is very scarce at harvest time 
this plan is wasteful. The stover is too valuable to 
be lost. In harvesting by this method a wagon with 
sideboards on one side, as illustrated in Fig. 184, 




Fig. 184. Wagon with Sideboards 



is usually driven along the rows. The buskers 
throw the ears directly into the wagon, and should 
load one wagon while another is making a trip to 
the crib. 

In addition to these regular ways of harvesting, 
corn is sometimes grown and harvested for seed. 
When corn is grown only for seed, the stalk and ear 
should ripen undisturbed, and both should reach 
perfect maturity. 



HARVESTING THE CROP 23 1 



POINTS FOR THOUGHT 



1. If you are anxious to get early roasting ears on the market, 
would you ever plant on poor land ? 

2. Boone County White is a large variety of corn. Iowa Silver 
Mine is small. Which of these varieties would usually ripen first ? 

3. Why should corn grown for silage be cut earlier than corn 
grown for stover ? 

4. If you have only a few hogs, should you ever harvest by 
hogging? Why should other crops be planted with corn when 
you intend to " hog " corn ? 

5. W^hy should silage corn be planted near the barn ? 

6. How big ought a corn farm to be before a man should buy 
a binder ? 

7. In what way are leaves a factory ? 



CHAPTER XVIII 

CORN SILAGE 

The storing of green fodder in a silo seems to 
have been suggested by a very old custom of stor- 
ing grain in pits. After the grain was stored, it was 
covered with straw. Then the top was walled over 
with cement and stone. In Egypt more lasting 
rooms were built. They were air-tight and filled 
from an opening in the top. The opening was sealed 
after the storage space was filled. This method was 
adopted to preserve grain against a time of drought. 

The Italians seem to have been the first to store 
green food in pits. As early as 1786 it is said that 
they preserved leaves for cattle in casks and pits. 
In 1843 an Englishman writes that in Germany he 
had seen green clover, grass, and vetch stored in 
pits. The green food was placed in pits which were 
ten or twelve feet square. Salt was scattered over 
the silage as it was packed, then the pit was covered 
with close-fitting boards, and earth was piled over the 
boards so as to keep out air. 

A man named Samuel Johnson introduced the 
custom into England. He found that after the green 
food had fermented it kept well and was greedily 
eaten by cattle. The first recorded silos in America 



CORN SILAGE 233 

were built only a year apart. Manly Miles of Michi- 
gan built one in 1875, and Francis Morris of 
Maryland built the other in 1876. 

The silo came to America just as there was a 
remarkable increase in dairying. Hence dairymen 
were seeking food for their animals that would add 
to. the flow of milk. The new food proved com- 
paratively cheap and healthful, was easily fed, and 
greatly increased the quantity of milk given. Silage, 
therefore, met the needs of the dairymen, and since 
that time thousands of silos have been built. Experi- 
ments later showed that corn was the cheapest and 
most satisfactory material for silage, and large areas 
are now planted for silage alone. 

How much silage should be grown on an acre of 
land.f^ Will this not, like any other crop, vary with 
the richness of the land ? Experiments have shown 
that the amount grown on an acre will be in propor- 
tion to the number of bushels of corn that the land 
yields. Land that produces thirty bushels to an 
acre ought to yield six tons of silage. Land that 
grows forty bushels should yield eight tons, and for 
each additional ten bushels there should be an 
increase of two tons. 

For what reasons is silage so prized as an addition 
to farm foods ? 

First, a large amount of food can be packed into 
a comparatively small space. In addition, as the 
animals eat all of the stalk, there is no waste. 



234 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

Second, silage is not only enjoyed by farm animals, 
but it keeps them in good health and improves 
their looks. It furnishes them with the same appe- 
tizing and nourishing food that they get from a 
summer pasture. 

Third, feeding animals in the winter is cold and 
disagreeable work. Eveiy farmer wants to lessen 
drudgery. Silage is a clean, convenient, and easily 
handled food. 

Fourth, silage increases the flow of milk of a 
dairy herd. At the New Jersey Experiment Station 
a group of eight cows was tested for milk produc- 
tion. The cows were fed on stover from a certain 
number of acres, and the amount of milk produced 
on this food was carefully weighed. They were then 
fed on silage from the same number of acres. After 
the food was changed to silage the cows increased 
the amount of milk given 128 per cent. The butter 
fat in the milk of these cows increased 10 per cent. 
There was very little difference in the cost of the 
two foods. Similar experiments at other places 
have shown an equally large increase in the flow 
of milk. 

On the other hand, we must remember that silage 
is not a cheap crop to grow, and that the labor of 
filling a silo is great. Happily, as seen in Fig. 185, 
much of this labor is done by machinery. The 
cutter is driven by power, and the silage is hoisted 
into the silo by an elevator. Still the cutter must 




Fig. 185. Filling the Silo 



236 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

be fed by hand and the silage must be packed by 
treading, and if too dry must be wet as it is packed. 

Before planting a silage crop should you not plan 
to lessen labor and expense ? Since the corn is cut 
and hauled when it is very heavy, would you not re- 
duce expenses by having your silage fields near the 
silo? As you do not expect the corn to ripen its 
ears, can you not plant your silage corn thicker than 
your other corn? Would this thicker planting not 
give you more stalks to be cut into silage ? Would 
you, with a view to saving labor and saving your 
machines, not select level fields for your silage corn? 

Preparation of land for silage corn does not differ 
from the preparation for the regular crop. Will you 
not need the same deep, well-tilled seed bed ? Shall 
you not have to keep the weeds killed and a dry 
mulch on your soil? As silage corn is to be cut 
before it matures, can you not wait to plant this corn 
until the labor of planting the main corn crop is 
finished ? About how much seed to the acre should 
be planted for silage ? Experiments seem to prove 
that from one fourth to one third more than for 
other corn is the best amount. Since the corn is to 
grow thick on the soil, w^ould it not be wise to put 
the rows a little farther apart than is done for your 
main corn crop ? 

In deciding when to cut your silage corn you will 
have to put to yourself two questions. These are, 
Is the corn green enough to cut? Is the corn dry 



CORN SILAGE 237 

enough to out? If it is too green at cutting time, 
you lose in food value, and the silage is so sour 
that animals do not like it ; if it is too dry, there 
is a loss in weight and feeding value, and the silage 
will be difficult to pack and preserve. The time 
most favorable for cutting is when the ears are in 
the hard-dough state. At this time the kernels are 
just becoming dented and the lower leaves dry and 
brown. The crop may be harvested later, provided 
frost has not injured it and provided that the silage 
is watered while it is being put into the silo. It 
will not pack if it is too dry, and packing is necessary 
to keep out air. If air gets into the silage, the green 
material first molds and then rots. 

If some of your corn is rather dry at cutting time, 
would it not be well to cut this first and pack it at 
the bottom of the silo? Why? When would you 
water all the silage as it goes into a silo ? 

Should every farmer have a silo? Not unless he 
has at least ten cows to feed. The expense of build- 
ing a silo and of buying the machinery needed to 
fill it is too great for feeding a small herd. 

APPLYING THE LESSON 

1. If a field yields fifty bushels of corn to an acre, how many 
tons of silage should it produce ? 

2. An average Jersey cow is fed about thirty pounds of silage 
a day. How long will a silo holding one hundred tons feed ten 
such cows at the same rate of feeding ? 



238 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

3. Silage must be packed well to preserve it. Should you, then, 
set your machine to cut the stalks in short lengths, say from one- 
half to one inch, or in longer lengths, say three or four inches ? 

4. Two brothers, who each have a fine calf, are preparing these 
calves for a January calf show. One is feeding his calf on stover 
for roughage. The other is feeding silage. Which is most likely 
to win the blue ribbon ? 

5. If a cow were giving two gallons of milk a day and a 
silage ration increased her milk 128 per cent, how much milk 
would she yield } 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. Why is it necessary to water silage if the corn is dry .? 

2. Would it be economical to begin feeding silage early in the fall .'* 

3. You have noticed how stock improves on a summer pasture. 
Is silage the same sort of food that is enjoyed in the pasture ? 

4. A man who was not used to silos built a wooden one. Fear- 
ing that water would injure his silage, he bored auger holes in 
each side near the bottom to drain the silo. Was this wise ? 

5. A man who wanted to plant twenty acres in silage corn 
selected a broken field over a mile from his silo. What mistakes 
did he make ? 



CHAPTER XIX 

STORING THE EARS 

The ears for which you have worked all summer 
are now ready for storage. Surely, after your labor 
and your outlay in producing them, you will not be 
careless about their storage. How shall you store 
the ears so that not one shall be lost from neglect? 
If your mind suggests clear answers to the following 
questions, your corn will be properly housed : 

First, should corn ever be stored before it is fully 
matured and thoroughly dried ? 

Second, should air not circulate through your crib ? 

Third, should the crib not be so built and kept in 
repair as to keep moisture from the corn? To this 
end, how far over the front and rear of the crib 
should the gables extend? Should the roof come 
well down over the sides ? Can you afford to have 
even a small leak in the roof? 

Fourth, shall you store the corn in the ear or 
after it has been shelled? 

Fifth, if weevils or mice are troublesome would it 
be best to store your ears without husking them ? 

Sixth, since mice, rats, and birds devour much 
corn, should you not line your crib with wire netting 
and take any other needful steps to keep them out ? 

239 



240 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

Seventh, should you not take care that your corn 
is so dry when it is gathered and kept so dry in the 
crib that it cannot freeze ? 

To give free passage for air, to keep out mice, 
rats, and birds, and to keep the corn perfectly dry, 




Fig. 1 86. Crib with Projecting Roof 

ventilated sheet iron cribs with wide gables and pro- 
jecting roofs are easily built. If such a crib is set 
on protected piers, it makes an excellent storage 
house. Wooden cribs which are well aired, lined 
with wire netting, and set on rat-proof piers pre- 
serve the corn equally well. It is often convenient 
to know how to calculate the amount of shelled 
corn that the ears stored in a crib will measure. 
To get this amount, if the crib is full, multiply 



STORING THE EARS 24 1 

together the number of feet in the height, width, 
and depth of the crib. Then divide the number re- 
sulting from the two multipHcations by 2.50, which 
is the number of cubic feet of corn on the ear that 
will make one bushel of shelled corn. The quotient 
will be the number of shelled bushels sought. 

No matter how prudently you store your corn 
there will always be a shrinkage in weight after it 
is stored. Even fairly dry corn, housed with the 
utmost care, will shrink from 5 to 15 per cent. 
This loss, of course, is due to the evaporation of 
moisture from the cob and kernels. The amount of 
moisture lost will vary with the dryness of the corn 
at gathering time, and the weather conditions fol- 
lowing the harvest. If the fall is wet, there will be 
little loss of moisture, and hence not much loss in 
weight. If the fall is very dry, however, there will 
be a steady loss in weight. The greatest shrinkage 
is in November, just after the harvest ; the next 
greatest shrinkage is in April and in May, when 
spring warmth hastens the drying out. 

POINTS FOR THOUGHT 

1. Should you gather and store your corn just after a rain ? 

2. Why should air circulate through a crib ? 

3. In case you have many weevils in your crib would you husk 
your com before you stored it ? 

4. If a crib is thirty feet long, twenty feet wide, and ten feet 
high, how many bushels of corn will it hold ? 



242 CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 

5. Suppose the amount of corn stored in the crib which you 
have just calculated lost 5 per cent in weight from shrinkage, 
how much in pounds would the total loss from shrinkage be — 
counting one bushel of eared corn at seventy-six pounds ? 

6. What changes in your home crib can you make to protect 
it from mice and rats ? 



INDEX 



Africa, corn in, i 
Alexander, Corbett, 25 
America, corn in, 1,9, 10 
Asia, wheat and oats in, 9 

Bag for seed corn, 105 
Barren stalks, 57, 58, 75, 76 

prevention of, 76 
Blades, 4 

Boys' corn clubs, 7, 12, 76 
Breeding patch, 109-112 
Butts and tips, 34, 35, 65, 84, 85, 

93. 138 
Butting and tipping, device for, 197 
Buying seed, 63, 64, 65, 66, 94, 95 

Cartier, Jacques, 9 

Check-row method of planting, no, 

198-200 
Chit, 32 
Circles, showing production by 

states, 5 
Clean-culture crop, 158-160 
Climate, for corn, 17 

effect of, on date of harvesting, 
71, 216, 217 
Clover, 153-158, 160 

cut for hay, 157, 158 

danger in turning under, 157 

for silage, 232 

turned under, 157, 158 
Cob, 40, 41, 57, 58, 59, 60, 85, 91, 92 

color of, 86, 87 

size of, 88, 89 

uses of, 4 



Columbus, Christopher, 9 

Corn, affected by temperature, 23 

after corn, 158-160 

after tobacco, 160 

Bible use of word, 9 

dent, 33-36, 41-43' 59 

description of, by Pilgrim writer, 

14 

distribution of rainfall affecting, 

21-23 
earliest description of, 10-12 
earliest picture of, 10 
flint, 35-36, 40-42, 59 
flowers of, 56 

growing-days of, by states, 27, 28 
growth of, in South Africa, 23 
home of, 9, 17 
ideal season for, 22 
importance of, to colonists, 13 
importance of, to Jamestown 

colony, 10 
importance of, to Puritans, 10 
legumes increase yield of, 1 53-1 58 
length of growing-season of, 27-29 
man's work for, 61 
map showing yield of, by states, 5 
measuring, in crib, 8 
moisture in, 115 
nature's work for, 61 
planted on stubble, 150-158 
pod, 31, 33, 39 

Pop» 31. 33, 37-39. 41, 43. 59 
price of, per bushel, 6 
rainfall required for, 19-21 
seed of, sent to Old World, 1 5 



H3 



244 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Corn, soft, 33, 39 

soil for, 140 

sweet, 33, 36, y] 

time required to ripen, 19, 27-29 

water needed per bushel, 19 

world's supply of, 6 

yield of, per acre, 7 
Corn Belt, 7, 24-28, 185, 199, 200, 220 

limits of, 7 

states comprising, 23 

temperature of, 23, 24 
Corn-binder, 225, 226 
Corn crib, calculating contents of, 
240, 241 

for seed ears, 239-24 r 

rat-proofing of, 239-240 

ventilation of, 240, 241 
Corn crop, bushels exported, 3 

bushels grown in United States, i 

bushels manufactured into starch, 
sirup, and sugar, 3 

climate for, 17 

doubling of, 7 

extent of, i 

forms in which used, 3 

history of, 9 

importance of, i 

map showing production by 
states, 5 

treatment of, i 

uses of, 3, 4 

varying elevation affecting, 17-19 

wagons needed to haul, 2 
Corn farm, buying of, 17-29 
Corn-horse, 225-227 
Corn oil, uses of, 3 
Corn-planter, 46, 183, 186, 196, 198 
Corn production, possibilities in the 
North, 24, 26-28 

possibilities in the South, 24, 26, 27 
Corn roots, spread of, 209-211 



Corn sirup, 3 
Corn-sled, 224, 225 
Cotton, home of, 9 
Cotton Belt, 7, 185 
Cover crops, 154, 155 
Cowpeas, 153-155, 159 
Cultivation, depth of, 209-211 

fifth step, 203 

first step, 150 

fourth step, 182 

objects in view, 213 

reasons for, 210, 211, 213 

second step, 163 

third step, 175 

times needed, 55, 211-213 

time to start on young crop, 209, 
212, 213 

too deep, 210, 211 
Cultivator, 204, 205 

disk, 207, 208 

kind to select, 206-209 

lister, 205, 206 

single, 206 

spring-tooth, 208 

two-row, 206, 207 
Cutting corn, diagram for saving 
steps in, 223, 224 

methods of, 222-225 

Dent corn, 31-36, 42, 43 

number of ears to stalk, 59 

why a favorite, 41-43 
Dextrin, uses of, 4 
Disking, 151-153, 158, 178, 179 

advantages of spring, 179, 180 

benefits of, 151-153 
Drainage, 186-189 
Drake, Z. V., 140 

Ears, butts of, 84, 85 
change of height, 70-73 



INDEX 



245 



Ears, color of cobs, 86, 87 

color of kernels, 86, 87 

favored, 94, 97, 99, loi, no 

girth of, 83, 84 

height of, 69-72 

heredity of, 63, 64, 94 

kinds to select, 97, 98 

length of, 83, 84 

number needed to plant an acre, 99 

number of rows of kernels on, 59 

number of, to stalk, 78-So 

partly filled, 57, 58 

qualities of, 81, 82 

race qualities of, 40, 41 

ripening time of, 72, -jt, 

shanks of, 74, 75 

space between rows of kernels on, 
85,86 

storage of, 239 

storehouse of the plant, 53 

tips of, 84, 85 

ways to house, 239, 240 
Elevation, effect of, on corn, 17 

effect of, on length of growing- 
season, 18, 19 

influence of, on maturity, 18 
Endosperm, 3, 4, 34-38, 46, 48, 49 

basis of classification, 33 

color of, 8 

defined, 33 

products of, 4 

Farm, choice of, for growing corn, 
17-29 

Ferdinand, King, 9 

Fertilizer, fish used as, 10, 14, 16 

Fining the soil, 49 

Flint corn, 31, 33, 35' 36, 40-42 
adapted to cold climates, 42 
number of ears of, to stalk, 59 
size of crop of, 41 



Flowers, 55-57 

Fodder pulling, 54, 219-222 

Food, from air, 52, 53 

from soil, 52, 53 
Fursman, E. S., 140 

Germ, 3, 31, 32, 46, 49 

color of, 8 

foes of, 113, 114 

importance of, 113 

products of, 3 
Germination, 182, 195 
Germination box, cover cloth for, 127 

covering of, 128 

packing sawdust in, 128 

placing kernels in, 127 

preparation of, 126 

raising sides of, 128, 131 

removing kernels for, 127 

section of, 133, 137 

top cloth for, 128 

top cloth removed from, 132 
Germination tests, 121 

reading of, 132, 137 

waiting for results of, 131, 132 
Gluten, 32, 33, 46 
Grass, for silage, 232 
Growing-season, length of, for 

several states, 27-29, 71, 184-186 

Hall, Sherman, 6 
Hariot, Thomas, ir, 12 
Harrow, cutaway, 171 

disk, 151, 157, 158, 178 

setting of, for young corn, 204, 205 

smoothing, 178, 180 

spike-tooth, 204 

spring-tooth, 206 
Harrowing, 49, 170, 178-180 

advantages of, for young plants, 
204, 205 



246 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Harrowing, advantages of spring, 
179, 180 

moisture loss lessened by, 156 
Harvesting, 215 

for ears alone, 218, 219, 229, 230 

for ears and stover, 218, 219 

effect of variety on, 216, 217 

by hogs, 218, 219 

for seed alone, 230 

for silage, 217-219 

stage of maturity for, 218 

for stover, 218-219 

time to begin, 216-218 

wagons for, 230 

ways of, 219-223 
Heredity, 63-67, 70, 94 
Hogging, 219 
Hull, 3 
Humus, 140, 155, 157-160, 167, 168, 

172, 179, 208, 215 
Husker and shredder, 229 
Husking, device for, 229 
Husks, 42, 58 

products of, 4 

uses of, 74 

Indians, clearing cornland by fire, 
15.16 

cooking corn, 11,12 

crushing grains, 13 

using fish as a fertilizer, 10, 14, 16 
Isabella, Queen, 9 

Jamestown, 10, 13 
Jefferson, Thomas, 163 
Johnson, Samuel, 232 
Joseph, 9 

Kernels, 48, 56, 57 

basis of race division, 31 
color of, 86, 87 



Kernels, growth of, 49 

inspection of, 123, 124 

numberof,forgermination test,i 24 

number of, to ear, 59 

number of, varies with kinds, 59 

parts of, 32 

planting of, 46 

power of, to sprout, 92 

qualities of best, 92 

qualities of good, 1 21-123 

race qualities of, 39, 40 

shape of, 32, 89-92 

size of, 89-92 

space between, 85, 86 
Knives for cutting corn, 223 

Lapping, 181 
Leaves, 68 

as food gatherers, 53 
Legumes, 160, 185 

between corn rows, 159, 160 

defined, 153 

effect of cutting, foi hay, 155 

effect of turning under, 155 

summer, 153-156, 215 

ways in which crops are helped 
by, 153-158 

winter, 156-158 

winter, following summer, 1 54, 1 55 
Lister, 192-194 
Listing, advantages of, 194, 195 

methods of, 192-195 

objections to, 195 

Map, showing production by states, 5 
Manure, 158, 159 
Manure-spreader, 159 
Maturity, effect of elevation on, 18 
Methods of storing seed ears, 116- 

119 
" Middle buster," 192 



INDEX 



247 



Miles, Manly, 233 

Moisture, effect of, on planting, 200, 
201 

loss of, 179 

lost by " steaming," 156 

saving of, 169, 170 

sufficiency of, for large growth, 19, 
198 
Morris, Francis, 233 
Mulch, 156, 170, 211, 212 

Navajo corn, 22 

Nodes, 58 

North, corn production in, 24, 27, 28 

Nubbins, 75, 198 

Oats, 150 

Oil, from corn, 3 

Parker, Charles, 140, 141 

Pith, products of, 4 

Plant, conditions for growth of, 45 

early growth of, 45 

first food of, 4 5 

functions of each part of, 53, 54 

the growing, 45 

how it feeds, 32, 23^ 52, 53, 67 

moisture for, 45, 48, 49 

parts of, 46 

seed bed for, 175 

warmth for, 49 
Planting, 182-202 

in accord with nature, 182-188 

check-row method, 189, 190 

check-row, seeds to each check, 
199, 200 

depth of, 200, 201 

distance of plants in row, 200 

distance of rows, 200 

in drained lands, 188-190 

drill-row method, 190, 191 



Planting, effect of warmth on, 
183-186 

hand method, 195, 196 

lister method, 191-195 

in poor lands, 199, 200 

ridge method, 199-201 

ridging for wet lands, 186-189 

surface method, 189, 191, 192 

time for, 182-186 
Planter, 46 

check-row, 198 

double-row, 186 

hand, 196 

setting of, 196 

single-row, 183 
Plow, 163 

early forms of, 163, 165 

inventors of, 163 

modern forms of, 163, 165 
Plowing, depth of, 155, 1 71-173 

effect of, on insects, 169 

effects of, on soil, 169, 170 

fall, 167-172, 178 

ground too wet for, 174 

reason for, 163, 164 

schools to teach, 166 

spring, 156, 157, 167, 172 

suggestions for depth of, 172, 173 

things not to do in spring, 173, 174 

things to do in spring, 172 

what it does, 1 66 
Pod corn, 31, 33, 39, 4° 
Pollen, 56, 57, 72, 72^ 100 
Pollination, 57, 58, 72, 73 

affected by height of stalk and 
ear, 72 

affected by rainfall, 23 
Pop corn, 31, 33, 37-38' 4i» 43 

explanation of popping of, 38 

number of ears to stalk, 59 

size of crop, 41 



248 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Pop corn, uses of, 43 
Pop-corn machines, 43 
Population of United States, 4 
Portuguese scatter corn, 15 
Preparation of soil, 150-160 

advantages of early breaking, 167- 
171, 173, 174 

benefits of disking, 1 51-153 

breaking for corn, 167, 168 
Prize acre, barren spots to be avoided 
in, 142, 143 

fields to select for, 144, 146-148 

legumes in, 147, 148 

poor soil avoided in, 142, 143 

selection of, 141-148 

trees to be avoided in, 144-146 

weeds to be avoided in, 144, 146 

wet land to be avoided in, 142, 
144, 145 
Prize ears, 61, 62 
Prolific corn, 78-80, 108 

Races of corn, 31 
how classified, 31 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 1 1 

Rainfall, 186-188, 192 

distribution of, in Arizona, 20 
distribution of, in Corn Belt, 21 
distribution of, in Georgia, 14 
distribution of, in Iowa, 21 
effect of, on pollination, 23 
effect of, on soil, 212 
required for corn, 19 
at silking and tasseling time, 23 

Rape in corn, 220 

Ridging wet lands, 186-189 

Roanoke Island, 11 

Root hairs, 52, 53, 168 

Root sprout, 49, 50 

Root system, 50-52 

Roots, spread of, 55, 209-211 



Rose, Alfred, 140 
Rotation of crops, 186 
Rows, distance apart, 196 
Rye, 150, 160 

Sap current, 53 

Sawdust, preparation for germina- 
tion test, 125, 126 

removing excess water from, 126 
Sawdust plan of testing corn, 121 
School children in America, 6 
Season, ideal, 22 
Seed, adaptation of, 66, 67 

bagging of, 138, 139 

buying of, 63-65, 66, 94, 95 

care of, 139 

crib selection of, 98 

ears to select from, 97, 98 

effect of climate on, 95 

effect of elevation on, 65 

effect of soil on, 95 

family record of, 97 

harvesting of, 230 

home-grown, 65, 67, 94, 95 

improvement of, by grower, 96- 
112 

labeling, 138, 139 

looks of, may mislead, 93-95 

from neighboring farm, 95, 96 

selection of, from field, 98-100 

showy ears, 64 

stalks to select from, 97-99 

stealing a neighbor's, 60 

storing, 113 

value of good, 62, 63 

ways of selecting, 63-67, 93 
Seed bed, 175 

preparation of, 176-180 
Seed ears, arranging, for germina- 
tion test, 121 

butting and tipping, 138 



INDEX 



249 



Seed ears, crib for, 239-241 
drying and storing, 107, 108 
final selection of, 106-108 
foes of, 239, 240 
how injured, 113, 114 
how improved, 62 
inspection of, 123, 124 
manner of final selection of, 107, 

108 
markings of, 61, 78 
method of gathering, 105, 106 
methods of storing, 11 6-1 19 
moisture injurious to, 107 
objections to row selection of, 

106-108 
one-eared varieties of, 108, 109 
prolific varieties of, 108, 109 
shelling, by hand, 138, 139 
shrinkage of, 241 
testing of, 121 
time of gathering, 107 
unimproved, 62 

Seed selection, ear-to-row method 
of, 109-112 
field to use for, 100, 10 r 
first examination, loi 
marking selected ears in, 103 
notes on, 68, 74, 76, 80, 89 
number of ears to select, 99, 100 
place and manner of, 93 
plants to reject in, 10 1, 103 
second examination, 104-106 
time to begin, 98, 100 

Shank, 58, 74 

Shocking corn, methods of, 225-228 

Shocks, 228, 229 

device for tightening, 227 
handling of, 228, 229 

Silage, 232, 237, 238 
amount of, per acre, 233 
amount of, for a cow, 237 



Silage, an expensive crop, 234 

history of, 232, 233 

land for, 233, 236 

packing of, 236-238 

plans for lessening expense of, 
236 

preparation of land for, 236 

reasons for prizing, 233, 234 

seed per acre for, 236 

time to harvest, 217-219 

watering as packed, 237 

when to cut, 236, 237 
Silk, 46, 54-57, 73 . 
Silo, 238 

in America, 233 

filling of, 234-236 

who should have, 237 
Smith, John, 10 

Soil, effect of freezing and thawing 
on, 168 

preparation of, 49, 150-160 
Soil for corn, 140 
Soil tubes, 157, 179, 212, 213 
South, corn production in, 24, 26 
Soybeans, 153-155, 159 
Spaces, between kernels, 8;^ 

between rows, 84 
Stalks, barren, 57, 58, 75, 76 

distance apart, 198, 199 

kinds of, to select seed from, 97-99 

parts of, 55 

products of, 4' 

qualities of, 67 

varying height of, 70-72 
Stem sprout, 52 
Starch, 3, 32 
Storage house, 115 
Storage of seed ears, 116-119, 239, 

240 
Storage room, 1 13 
Stover, 218, 222, 223, 230 



250 



CORN BOOK FOR YOUNG FOLK 



Suckers, 43 

Sugar cane, home of, 9 

Sweet com, 31, 33, 36, 

41, 43 
uses of, 43 



57. 40, 



Tassel, 46, 54-56, 60, 73 

Temperature, effect of, 23, 24, 27- 
29 
of Corn Belt, 23, 24 

Tending the crop, 203-214 

Time to begin harvesting, 216-21S 
varies with amount of moisture, 

216 
varies with care, 216, 217 
varies with climate, 216, 217 
varies with purpose, 217 
varies with varieties, 216, 217 

Tip cap, 32 

Topping, 222 



United States Department of Agri- 
culture, 4 

Vetch, 153 
for silage, 232 

Water, amount of, needed for growth 
of corn, 60 

uses of, by corn plant, 55 
Webster, Daniel, 163 
Weeder, 203, 204 
Weeds, 203, 204 
Wheat, 150 

home of, 9 
White, John, 10, 12 
Winter wheat states, time for seed- 
ing in, 185 

Yield per acre, average, 7 
effect of height on, 70-72 



LIBRARV OF CONGRESS 

D000^3S50lb • 




